Yuseolgyeonghakdaejang

Basic information

Designation

Treasure No.2268

Category

Books & Records

Era

1420년(조선 세종 2)∼1433년(조선 세종 15)

Designated year

2024

Location

종로구, 서울특별시— 서울특별시 종로구 성균관로 25-2 (명륜3가, 성균관대학교)

Coordinates

No precise coordinates are available, so this item is not shown as a map marker. To be added later.

This English description was machine-translated and may contain inaccuracies. Refer to the original Korean text for details.

The Yusaegyeonghakdaejang is a Confucian study text presenting systematically organized summaries of 148 topics likely to appear in the state examination, compiled by the Ming dynasty scholar Zhu Jingyuan and organized into three volumes. The upper volume addresses 50 topics concerning practical ethical philosophy and Confucian virtues, the middle volume treats 47 topics related to the recruitment of worthy officials, and the lower volume discusses 51 topics covering kingly versus hegemonic governance and financial and taxation systems. The most distinctive characteristic of the present copy is its printing in small typeface using the Gyeongjaja, the bronze metallic typeface created at the National Foundry in 1420. The Gyeongjaja was designed to address recognized deficiencies in the earlier Gyemija typeface cast in 1413, the first Korean bronze typeface. This text's significance derives from its printed format using Korean metallic typeface and its documentation of the historical period of early Joseon printing practices. Notably, the entire text is printed in small-character Gyeongjaja, making this edition extremely rare; although other impressions exist, no other known copy features complete text printing in small Gyeongjaja characters. While identical editions exist at other repositories, those copies lack prefaces and tables of contents, whereas the present copy maintains all preliminary matter and complete text content, making it worthy of preservation as a treasure.