A tree with deep roots,
Because the wind sways it not,
Blossoms abundantly
And bears fruit.
The water from a deep spring,
Because a drought dries it not,
Becomes a stream
And flows to the sea. 1)

Although for the past decade of so Starr Library tradition has maintained that the Korean collection was started in 1953, it actually began with a donation of books by Korean students at Columbia University in 1931. According to a recently discovered article in The Korean Student Bulletin of December 1931, “the much needed and the long planned Korean Library and Culture Center was recently established at Columbia University… At present the Korean Library has nearly 1,000 volumes of Korean books, largely contributed by the Korean students in New York.” It goes on to declare, optimistically, that “the library Committee expects to have over 2,000 volumes of Korean books” by the end of 1931, and that “a large collection of books is expected in the near future and according to the plans of the committee, the library will have at least 20,000 to 25,000 books by 1936." 2) This was not how it turned out. Although the Library still has some of those early donations, the Library Committee mentioned in the article seems to have dissolved, and other and perhaps more urgent concerns occupied Korean students. There was a long hiatus, which we are still in the process of reconstructing; however, it is clear that the systematic collection of Korean materials began only after renewed interest and University commitment in the early 1950s. But the roots, planted by Korean students in the 1930s, had taken hold. The collection now has a total of approximately 41,000 volumes, plus subscriptions to 350 periodicals.

Among those volumes are the 517 titles in 1,857 volumes of the Yi Song-ui Collection of rare books, acquired by the Library in the late 1960s. Yi Song-ui was an antiquarian book dealer in Seoul, and became the foremost authority on old movable type in Korea. When he died in the winter of 1964-1965, his personal collection was put on the market by his heirs. Columbia spent close to two years negotiating the purchase. The collection as finally acquired was smaller than the on originally sought, since strong pressure developed in Korea to keep the whole collection or at least the typographically oldest items within the country. Some particularly valuable and unique items did remain in Korea. The 1,857 volumes Columbia acquired are housed in over 700 cases and printed, either with woodblocks or movable wood or metal type fonts, on Korean paper made from mulberry tree fiber. A significant number of these are books printed with movable metal type, and some of the type fonts used predate the 1590s. 3)

Over the years many of the volumes, which are in generally good condition, were cataloged. However, it is only recently that the collection has been reviewed by a specialist in Korean rare books. The first expert to examine the collection, Paek Rin, formerly of the Harvard-Yenching Library, identified fourteen titles that he labeled “most rare.” Then in August 1994, the C.V.Starr East Asian Library hosted four Korean rare book experts: Chon Hye-bong, former member, Committee on Cultural Properties, and professor, Academy of Korean Studies; Lee Jung-sup, specialist member, Committee on Cultural Properties; Kim Ki-yong, executive secretary, Association of Bibliography; and Pak Sang-guk, consultant, Committee on Cultural Properties. They worked in Starr for several weeks, cataloging the Korean rare book collection, as part of a Korean national project designed to catalog and confirm the status of Korean bibliographic cultural properties outside Korea.

Their work was published in November 1994, in Haeoe Chongjok Munhwajae Chosa mongnok: Miguk Columbia Taehak Tonga Tosogwan Sojang Hangukpon Mongnok (Bibliography of Overseas Rare Book Cultural Treasures: Korean Rare Book Catalog of Columbia University, United States), published by the Korean Association of Bibliography, Seoul. It includes annotated records for the Korean rare book collection and an additional section on modern fiction, detailing Starr’s holdings of Korean fiction from the first half of the twentieth century that are no longer readily available in Korea.

Among the rare books are two kwon (volumes) of an extremely early printed version of Yongbi Ochonga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven), volumes 9 and 10 (of 10). The bibliographers all believe these two volumes were printed from the original blocks, in the late fifteenth century.

Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven is a poem in 125 cantos, written in Korean, with a Chinese translation following, celebrating the history of the establishment of the Yi dynasty. It was commissioned by King Sejong (1419-1450) in praise of his ancestors and forebears, the founders of the Choson (or Yi) dynasty, and was compiled in 1445 by three court poets and scholar-officials. Sejong invented the Korean script in late 1443 or early 1444. He ordered a commission to compile “explanations and examples,” and these were published in 1446 under the title Hunmin chongum haerye. King Sejong, however, not only acknowledged that the Chinese writing system was inappropriate for the Korean spoken language, he believed it was important to convey the spoken language in writing. According to his promulgation concerning the new script, he wrote:

The sounds of our country’s language are different from those of Chinese, and are not confluent with the sounds of Chinese characters. Therefore, among the innocent people, there have been many who, having something to put into words, have in the end been unable to express their feelings. I have been distressed because of this, and have newly designed twenty-eight letters, which I wish to have everyone practice at their ease and adapt to their daily use. 4)

The volumes in the Starr Library are a tangible legacy of these seminal historical and cultural events. The poem itself was composed to celebrate the legitimacy of the Choson dynasty, which lasted from 1392 until 1910. In the history of Korean culture, it was a kind of declaration of cultural independence. The invention of hunmin chongum, or “the correct sounds for the instruction of the people” (called hangul or “Korean writing,” since about 1913), a true alphabet that reflects the sounds of Korean, had enormous implications for the development of a national literature, and ultimately national consciousness. The history of printing in Korea, the most advanced in East Asia in the fifteenth century, is also illustrated by his first printing of hangul.

The verse cited at the beginning of this paper is the second canto of the long poem, and refers metaphorically to the strength of the new dynasty; it can also be interpreted as referring to the lasting value of the culture itself, whose deep roots in the written and printed word have fostered the growth of Korean scholarship around the world.

Notes

This page opens volume 10 of the late-fifteenth-century printed edition of Yongbi Ochon-ga (Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven). The Starr East Asian Library holds volumes 9 and 10, believed to be printed from the original blocks.

1) Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven: A Korean Epic, translated and with an Introduction by James Hoyt, rev. 2d ed. (Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch; Seoul: Seoul Computer Press, 1979), 44.

2) The Korean Student Bulletin IX (December 1931):1,7.

3) A more complete description of the whole collection can be found in Amy Vladeck heinrich and Amy Hai Kyung Lee, "The Yi Song-ui Collection of Korean Rare Books in the C.V.Starr East Asian Library of Columbia University," Committee on East Asian Libraries Bulletin 95 (February 1992):19-31.

4) Translation adapted and revised from Gari Ledyard, The Korean Language Reform of 1446, Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms,1996).