A Pre-Gutenberg Book Printed with Movable Type Being Exhibited at the National Library of France

An exhibition at the National Library of France is displaying the oldest known extant book using movable metal type for the first time in 50 years. You may be thinking they are displaying a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. Yes, they are, in fact two. However, that is not the book being described here. This one is even older, though not many people in the West are familiar with this book, or that there even is such a book older than the Gutenberg Bible. The reason is this one comes from Korea. It's existence is obscure in the West.

The title (transliterated) of this book is Jikji simche yojeol, but it is known simply as Jikji. It means “Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings.” It was written by a monk named Baegun Hwasang, who wanted those teachings spread to a wider audience, especially since Confucianism was making inroads in Korea at the time. It was printed in two volumes but the French library has only the second volume. The complete text is known as there were also versions printed with woodblocks rather than metal. The text is written in Chinese characters.

The Jikji has been dated to 1377. That puts it a good 75 years before Gutenberg. It is believed unlikely that Gutenberg knew about this book when he developed his printing process. However, it is possible that there was some general knowledge of printing with movable metal type brought back to the West by visitors to Asia, though this is unknown. It is not known how many copies of the Jikji were printed with metal type but it was not likely a very large print run considering it has practically disappeared, unlike Gutenberg's Bible.

While the Jikji is the oldest such book preserved, it was not the first. There have undoubtedly been several others, with one possibility identified. That one is Baegun Hwasang Chorok Buljo Jisimcheyojeol, which translates to “The Song of Enlightenment with Commentaries.” It was written by the Buddhist Monk Nammyeong Cheon. Six copies dated between the 13^th and 16^th century are known. Others were printed with woodblocks. However, the printing on one looks different from the others and it is believed to have been printed with movable metal type, though this is still subject to debate. If so, it precedes the Jikji by over a century as it was dated 1239.

The Jikji has been named by UNESCO as the oldest known document printed by metallic movable type. UNESCO has also placed it on the “Memory of the World” register. South Korea has named it as one of the nation's “National Treasures.” This leads us to the question – what is Korea's National Treasure doing in the National Library of France? The answer goes back over a century. French Consul to Seoul Victor Collin de Plancy was a book collector and somehow obtained it while he was resident there. In 1911, he sold it at auction to Henri Vever. In 1951, after Vever died, his collection was given to the National Library of France.

The processes used by Gutenberg and the monks who printed the Jikji weren't identical, but the principles were the same. The Jikji monks and those who were printing even earlier have precedence. Still, you should not fear for Gutenberg's reputation. What the monks did was original, but it was obscure. The process did not catch on. It generated a few books but it's impact on the world was negligible. Gutenberg's was anything but that. It altered the course of mankind, one of the most important events in human history.

His invention was adopted by many others, with the result that knowledge and learning was able to spread like wildfire across Europe. While Gutenberg, like the monks, was invested in religious tracts, Gutenberg's successors would publish information about scientific discoveries, exploration, medicine, mathematics, and more. In Gutenberg's time, The West was not the leader it is today. The East – China, Korea and Asia, were ahead of the West. So were the Arab nations of the Middle East. Europe was still in the Middle Ages, that thousand year period often dubbed the “Dark Ages” as the West, the leader during the days of ancient Greece and Rome, stagnated and fell behind. Gutenberg's invention reversed all that, opening the doors to the Renaissance. The world changed spectacularly, knowledge feeding knowledge, inventions more inventions. The only shortcoming is that humans didn't grow socially and morally as fast as their knowledge, leaving us in the tenuous condition we find ourselves today. That is our fault, not Gutenberg's. His reputation and importance will stand for as long as we don't destroy ourselves.

The Exhibition, Printing! Gutenberg's Europe, will be continuing from now through July 16, 2023, at the Francois Mitterand site of the National Library of France in Paris. See it if you can in case they put the book back out of sight for another 50 years.