Oldest book printed using movable metal type

- Who
- Jikji
- What
- 645 year(s)
- Where
- Korea (Republic of) (Heungdeok-sa Temple)
- When
- July 1377
The oldest surviving book printed with moveable metal type is the Buljo jikji simche yojeol (generally known simply as the Jikji), a Korean Buddhist text printed in Cheongju in July 1377.
The Jikji – the full title translates as "Anthology of the Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings" – was written by a Buddhist priest called Baekun between 1354 and 1372. It comprises a series of biographies and collected writings of the monks and teachers who shaped the Zen school of Buddhist thought. Although the metal-type edition is incomplete, a copy – made using wood-block printing in 1378 – is held by the National Library of Korea.
The surviving volume of the metal-type edition is made up of 39 leaves, printed on both sides, measuring 24.6 cm high and 17 cm wide. These leaves are simply bound with five saddle stitches along with a front and back cover. It was acquired in the late 19th century by the French consul in Korea, Victor Collin de Plancy, and entered the collection of the National Library of France about 50 years later. The book was described by orientalist Maurice Courant in a 1901 book, but its historical significance seems to have been largely overlooked until 1972, when it was "rediscovered" at the National Library of France.
We know that the book was printed using movable type because of two things. The first, and most obvious, is that the colophon mentions that the book was "printed using metal types". The second is that the book has certain characteristics that could only have been created through metal typesetting. There are no pairs of identical type on any one page, for example, but the same sets of characters appear across many different pages, suggesting resetting and reuse. The strength of the impressions left by the type is also inconsistent, which would be the result of the varying heights of the different characters as they were set in the frames.
The Gutenberg Bible – often described as the oldest book printed with moveable type – wasn't created until 1450, 73 years after the Jikji. Moreover, the Jikji does not represent the beginning of metal-type printing in Korea – the earliest known use of metal type in Korea (and anywhere in the world) dates from 1234. That year, Korean government records mention the production of a book called Sangjeong Gogeum Yemun using movable metal type. However, no example of this book, nor any other similar books from the 13th or early 14th century survive.