This thesis is to survey records of publications(xylographic books and typologic books) of the Four Books and publications surviving to present day, conduct a physical bibliographical assessment of their types, and systematically study their character...
This thesis is to survey records of publications(xylographic books and typologic books) of the Four Books and publications surviving to present day, conduct a physical bibliographical assessment of their types, and systematically study their characteristics.
With regard to lists of woodblocks from the Chosun Dynasty, those with a comparatively confirmed period of editing were selected, records of publications of the Four Books were gathered, areas and times of their publication were assessed, and records of publications of the Four Books that are stipulated in catalogs of ancient books published(古書目錄) by various domestic and overseas libraries and private libraries were gathered. They were compared with actual publications kept at certain libraries. As a result, a list of publications of the Four Books surviving to date was made. Based on this list of books, a physical bibliographical assessment was conducted, and the characteristics of various types of the mainstream publications of the Chinese versions(漢文本) of the Four Books and the Korean explanatory version(諺解本) of the Four Books were assessed. Findings are as follows:
1) Through the list of woodblocks(冊板目錄), the status of archives containing the woodblocks of the Four Books from the Imjinwaeran war (壬辰倭亂) was studied. Regionally, many archives containing the woodblocks prior to the Japanese invasion were created in central government agencies in Hanseong, as well as Jeolla and Gyeongsang regions. Many archives possessed the Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean of the Four Books. After the Japanese invasion, the Jeolla region was found to possess the largest number of woodblocks of the Four Books, but a large number of publications surviving to this day were published by central government agencies and in the Gyeongsang region.
2) A survey of publications of the Chinese versions of the Four Books, and publications of the Korean explanatory versions of the Four Books, surviving to this day, was conducted. Results show that 48 types of the Analects of Confucius(論語), 49 types of the Book of Mencius(孟子), 36 types of the Great Learning(大學), and 45 types of the Doctrine of the Mean(中庸) for the Chinese version remain to this day. For the Korean explanatory version, surviving to this day are 17 types of the Analects of Confucius, 18 types of the Book of Mencius, 20 types of the Great Learning, and 21 types of the Doctrine of the Mean. Of the publications of the Chinese versions of the Four Books, the Daejeonbon version(大全本)accounts for the largest number, while the Saseo-Unhae(四書諺解) offers the largest number of the publications of the Korean versions of the Four Books.
3) The morphological characteristics of publications of the Four Books were assessed by dividing them into xylographic books(木板本) and typologic books(活字本). With regard to the typologic books -based Four Books, the gwanggwak (enclosure) of the Four Books commonly used more two black perimeters than one black perimeter. As for lines (行格), those publications of the Four Books that used ten lines (10行本) account for the largest number. As for eomi (魚尾), both the Chinese version and the Korean explanatory version mainly used a petal pattern eomi.
With regard to the xylographic books -based Four Books, the gwanggwak of the Chinese versions and the Korean explanatory versions both made use of slightly more two black perimeters than one black perimeter in the case of the Analects of Confucius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, and more one perimeter only in the case of the Book of Mencius. As for lines, Chinese versions of the Four Books that used ten lines and 22 characters account for the largest number of kinds. Of the Korean explanatory versions, those that used ten lines and 17 characters account for the largest number. With regard to eomi(魚尾), Chinese and Korean explanatory versions having two-petal pattern eomi at the top and bottom account for the largest number.
4) As for the assessment of the publication regions for the Four Books, the Gyeonggi region published the largest number of the Confucian classics in the country: 30 kinds of the Analects of Confucius, 32 kinds of the Book of Mencius, 27 kinds of the Great Learning, and 32 kinds of the Doctrine of the Mean. In the Gyeonggi region, the publication of the Confucian classics was undertaken by the central government agency responsible for publication, Seonggyungwan(成均館 :institution of higher learning), as well as by the Military Training and Defense Office(訓練都監), Bukhan Fortress, Namhan Fortress, and commercial publishing establishments.
The publication time of the Four Books was also examined. The largest number of publications of the Analects of Confucius were published prior to the Japanese invasion, and more reverse-engraved versions of the original book of the Analects of Confucius survived than the other classics of the Four Books. During the post-Japanese-invasion period, assessment was conducted by century. Of the Four Books published in the 17th century, the largest number of the Book of Mencius, and the largest number of Korean explanatory versions of the Four Books was published during this period. Of the Four Books published in the 18th century, the largest number of the publications of the Doctrine of the Mean was published, and eleven kinds of Jungyongjangudaejeon were published. During this period, the largest number of the Anthologies of the Four Books was published, with the reverse-engraved Youngrak versions(永樂板系) that have ten lines and 22 characters accounting for the mainstream. Commercial publishing establishments published classics in the 19 century, as well as in early and recent modern times.
5) This paper examined the Youngrak version of the Anthologies of the Four Books, the mainstream Chinese version of the publications of the Four Books, as well as the Korean explanatory version of the Four Books, the mainstream Gyeongseojagye(經書字系) of the Saseo-Unhae.
First, there are 13kinds of the Ronuhjibjudaejeon(論語集註大全), 12 kinds of Mangjajibjudaejeon(孟子集註大全), 13 kinds of Daehakjanggudaejeon(大學章句大全), and 17 kinds of ungyongjanggudaejeon(中庸章句大全) that remain to this day. With regard to publishers of the reverse-engraved of the Youngrak versions, most were locally published, and they were the most frequently published by the Supervisory Office of Gyeongsang. They were published based on the existing block styles in the Jeolla region.
Also, the main stream of the Korean explanatory versions of the Four Books is King Seonjo's Selection of Gyeongseojagye Explanatory Four Books. The Explanatory Four Books, according to their morphological characteristics, can be segmented into Gyeongseojabongye, Musinjabongye and Jeongyuja reverse-engraved version. However, based on the Gyeongseojabongye version, the Explanatory Four Books were published numerous times until the end of the Chosun Dynasty.