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Incunabula @incunabula
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An 11th century xylographic printing of the basic scripture of Korean Hwaeom Buddhism: Avatamsaka Sutra (The Flower Garland Sutra), Zhenyuan [Jingyuan] version. This is juan 80 (of 120 juan) of the Uicheon woodblock edition of circa AD 1087 printed on Korean mulberry-bark paper.
This sutra was printed with the woodblocks that the Korean monk Uicheon received from Jingyuan in 1087 (the 4th year of the reign of King Seonjong of the Goryeo Dynasty) during his visit to Song China. The front and rear covers of dark indigo-dyed paper are apparently original.
Another volume from this same edition can be seen at the National Museum of Korea, where it is designated a Treasure (pomul 寳物) which is one rank below National Treasure (kukpo 國寳), in the Korean system for designating
important cultural properties.
museum.go.kr/site/eng/relic…
I've not been able to find a record of another example of this 11th century Korean sutra printing in any institutional library outside of Korea itself (or in fact of any older example of Korean printing outside Korea). If anyone knows of one I would love to have the details.
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