Old Korean books discovered en masse in France

The National Library of Korea on Wednesday said that it has digitalized more than a dozen books owned by a noted French scholar of Korean studies more than a century ago and indexed the content of hundreds more.

The books will help local scholars as well as the public study the history, costumes as well as geography of the Joseon Dynsty (1392-1910), the NLK said.

According to the state-run library, 421 volumes of old Korean books were found at College de France in 2010. 

Among them were 254 books previously owned by Maurice Courant and sold to the institution. A French diplomat, Courant came to Korea in the 1890s. He wrote a number of books on Korea based on his collection of Korean texts as well as research at libraries in France and U.K.

“Bibliographie Coreenne,” his most noted work, is a bibliography of some of the most important books and documents on Korea, including “Jikji simche yocheol,” the world’s oldest surviving book printed using movable metal type. The 2010 findings were also made based on his bibliography.

Among the books are Haedonjegukgi, an observation report about Japan in the 15th century, and Cheonhajegukdo, an ancient atlas featuring Dokdo, the easternmost islets.

Sixteen volumes of the 421 were made into digital files and will be made available to the public at http://www.nl.go.kr/korcis from next month. The findings were compiled into an index and released on Wednesday.

“The books will help researchers well as the public get a glimpse of Korea centuries ago,” Lee Hye-eun, a bibliographer at the National Library of Korea, said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)