Korean printing history precedes Johannes Gutenberg by decades

Scholars and preservationists are working to correct the historical narrative that Johannes Gutenberg was the first to invent movable metal type printing.

While Gutenberg is widely celebrated in the West for his 15th-century press and the production of a 42-line Bible, a Korean religious text known as Jikji Simche Yojeol was printed using metal type several decades earlier.

Randy Silverman, a preservationist at the University of Utah Marriott Library, discovered the history of Jikji during a trip to Cheongju, Korea, in the early 2000s. Before this trip, Silverman held the common Western view that the German craftsman was the primary innovator of the technology. He now advocates for broader recognition of Asian ingenuity in the development of global printing.

Silverman and co-editor Cathleen Baker published a 672-page volume titled From Jikji to Gutenberg to address the lack of awareness regarding Korean printing history in the West. The book includes essays from international scholars tracing the evolution of movable type. The project also includes a digital exhibition and a children's book to educate younger audiences. UNESCO officially recognized Jikji as an international achievement in 2001 by including it in the Memory of the World International Register.

Despite this recognition, many Westerners and professionals still associate Gutenberg as the sole pioneer of the technology. The new research aims to shift this perspective by highlighting the 1377 production of the Jikji text.