Jikji printed in Korea, oldest extant book made with movable metal type
- Date
- July 1377
- Category
- Science, technology & invention
- Region
- East Asia
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
In July 1377, monks at Heungdeok Temple in Cheongju, then part of Goryeo Korea, printed the Jikji (full title Baegun hwasang chorok buljo jikji simche yojeol), an anthology of Seon (Zen) Buddhist teachings compiled by the monk Baegun (1298-1374).
Produced using movable metal type, it is the world's oldest extant book made by this method, predating Johannes Gutenberg's 42-line Bible by roughly 78 years and demonstrating that Korea had developed practical metal-type printing well before Europe. The surviving second volume of 38 leaves was acquired by a French diplomat in the early 1900s and is now held at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris. UNESCO inscribed the Jikji on its Memory of the World Register in September 2001, formally recognising it as the earliest surviving metal-type imprint. The work stands as a landmark in the global history of printing technology and a point of continuing cultural significance for Korea.
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Empires active in July 1377
- Ming Dynasty1368 CE – 1644 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 CE – 1922 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Golden Horde1242 CE – 1502 CE
Related science, technology & invention events
- Legendary origin of smallpox variolation (inoculation) in East Asiac. 1000 CE
- Gutenberg's printing press and the first printed Biblec. 1440–1455 CE
- The print revolution spreads across Europeby 1500
- Madhava and the Kerala School develop infinite seriesc. 1400
- Ulugh Beg's Samarkand Observatory and the Zij-i Sultani Star Cataloguec. 1428 (observatory); Zij-i Sultani completed 1438-1439
- Ibn al-Nafis Describes the Pulmonary Circulation of the Bloodc. 1242 CE
Further reading
The wider story
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