On Friday, April 18, Brian and I played hookie and took a personal day to explore the nearby town of Cheongju. The thing that really drew us there was an early printing museum, located on the site of the temple where the first recorded book in the world was printed with moveable metal type. For publisher-types, this was a fascinating little museum! The book, which recorded some Buddhist sayings, was printed in the year 1377 (78 years before Gutenberg printed his Bible in Europe). Apparently there are historical records that indicate books were printed in Korea in the late 1200s with metal type technology, but no copies have been found to authenticate that claim. The book pictured in this post is a copy, as the original is in a museum in France, and the funny-looking object with several arms is a beeswax form used to make early metal type casts. Combined with a huge and delicious lunch, a jaunt up the mountain, and 25 degree celcius weather, it was a great day.
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