朝鮮朝 한글活字 版本을 통해 본 活字鑄造法의 技術的 發展에 관한 考察

Abstract

In this research, to investigate the technical development of casting Hangeul movable types in Hangeul movable printing editions in the Joseon Period, analyzed are:ⅰ) the Hangeul movable printing books in the Jeseon period; ⅱ) the technical development of casting Hangeul movable types; and ⅲ) the existing Hangeul movable types and use of tunnel-shaped Hangeul movable types. Since the invention of the Korean script, that is, Hunminjongeum, the Hangeul movable types were used and developed in combination with the Chinese characters movable types. In this research, the names, printing editions, kinds and shapes of the Hangeul movable types were examined for the periods before and after Imjin Waeran, and some important illustrations of the books printed in those movable types were included. To discuss the development of casting techniques, the four straight corners of ‘Hangeul metal movable type used in combination with the First-cast Gabin-ja types’, and the technique of prefabricated typesetting were examined. Also, studied were ‘Hangeul metal movable type used in combination with the Second-cast Gyongseo-ja types’ which partly tried the wedge-shaped back(that is, the shape of an upside-down V) and. the tunnel-shaped ‘Hangeul metal movable type used in combination with the Second-cast Jeongli-ja types’ after Imjin Waeran. It is assumed that these tunnel-shaped movable types were used for Hangeul types in combination with the Musin-ja types, but since then not used, and later became popular with Hangeul types in combination with the Jaeju Jeongli-ja types. The National Museum of Korea has approximately 750 Hangeul movable types. About 30 of them are confirmed to be the Kyongseo-Hangeul-ja types recast on the base of Hangeul types in combination with Ulhae-ja types. Ant the rest were confirmed to be mostly Hangeul types used in combination with the Musin-ja types which had the tunnel-shaped back, different from Hangeul types cast before Imjin Waeran. They, however, failed in test so as not to be generally used for printing books in the late Joseon Period. The method and technique of casting tunnel-shaped metal types were applied to cast various Chinese characters metal types, including Imjin-ja, Jeongyu-ja and ‘Hangeul metal movable type used in combination with the Jaeju Jeongli-ja types.’ It is expected that the results from this research could be used for conducting further new and experimental studies of Hangeul movable types cast and used in the Jeseon Period.