KIM, Chŏng-hŭi 金正喜.

Wandang ch’ŏktok 阮堂尺牘 [Epistolary Writings of Wandang].

Printed in jeonsa-ja 全史字 metal movable type. 73; 79 folding leaves. Two vols. Large 8vo, orig. patterned semi-stiff wrappers, title-slips. Korea: 1867.

First edition, printed in jeonsa-ja copper movable type, which had been created in 1816-21. Wandang ch’ŏktok is a two-volume posthumous collection of letters by Kim Chŏng-hŭi 金正喜 (courtesy name Wandang 阮堂, best-known pen name Chusa 秋史, 1786-1856). The collection was compiled and printed by Kim’s pupil Nam Byeonggil 南秉吉 (1820-69), a renowned astronomer and mathematician. Nam’s Preface gives the date of the collection as the fourth year of King Kojong (r. 1864-1907).

Kim Chŏng-hŭi is one of Korean history’s foremost intellectual and cultural figures, celebrated for his pioneering scholarship in Confucian and Buddhist studies, as well as in practical learning, and for his unrivaled artistry in epigraphy, calligraphy, and painting. He championed an empirical approach under the banner of silsa gusi 實事求是 (seeking truth by attending to practical matters), fostering a generation of practical thinkers and exerting wide influence. However, in the 19th-century Chosŏn court, rife with intense factional conflict, Kim underwent political exile twice.

The collection gathers Kim’s epistolary correspondence from his years in exile. The letters are addressed to an illustrious list of officials, Confucian and Buddhist scholars, and friends, including Heungseon Daewongun (father of King Kojong) in the first volume and monks Baekpa (1767-1852) and Ŭisun (1786-1886) in the second. Far from being mere personal missives, many of the letters are substantial essays discussing the Confucian classics, poetry, history, calligraphy, Buddhist thought, and the art of epigraphy, as well as thoughtful debates with contemporaries on various scholarly topics. At the end of the second volume, supplementary writings entitled “Dokoeyeon” 牘外餘言 (“Words beyond the Letters”) and “Gayasan Haeinsa Junggeon Sangryangmun” (the roof beam inscription for the reconstructed Haein Temple on Mount Gaya), further augment the scholarly value of the collection.

Nice fresh set. Covers with some worming, repaired.