Jikji

Jikji, Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, June, 1377. Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris.

Jikji is the short title of a Korean book which is world's oldest extant movable metal print book. It is a Buddhist document, whose full title can be translated as "The Monk Baegun's Anthology of the Great Priests'. It was printed during the Korean's Goryeo era in 1377. UNESCO confirmed Jikji as the world oldest metalloid type book in September 2001 and includes it in the Memory of the World program.

Jikji was published 78 years before Johannes Gutenberg's "42-Line Bible". The greater part of the Jikji is now lost, and today only the last volume survives, kept at the National Library of France.

Authorship

The Jikji is a book about Zen Buddhism. It was written by the Buddhist monk Baegun who died three years before this edition was printed. Baegun was the chief priest of the Anguk and Shingwang temples in Haeju.

Jikji consists of two volumes. The metal-print Jikji was published in Heungdeok Temple. It is now kept in the National Library of France. There is a discussion about whether the book should be returned to Korea.