Maehwa si 梅花詩 [Plum Blossom Poems]
Wood-block printed. 23 folding leaves. Folio (364 x 270 mm.), orig. wrappers (wrappers somewhat soiled & marked), new stitching. [Andong: Privately Printed at] Tosan sŏwŏn [or Dosan seowon], [most likely 1578 or, perhaps, 1638].
First edition, privately printed at the Tosan Academy, the private Confucian academy established in 1574, following Yi’s death; this is certainly one of the earliest books to be printed there, if not the first. Yi Hwang (1501-70), also known as Yi T’oegye, was the most influential Neo-Confucian thinker in Chosŏn Korea (his portrait was used on the 1000 won banknote from 1975 to 2007). The... More