Singmul boncho (Pharmacopeia)

This is a specialist medical text on preventing illness through diet. It was originally published in 1526, the twenty-first year of King Jungjong, with a preface by the Ming-dynasty Chinese scholar Yao Wenqing and others, and was later reprinted using Gapjinja movable metal type sometime between the reigns of King Jungjong and King Myeongjong (1526–1556). The book divides its subject into eight categories — water, grain, vegetables, fruit, fowl, beast, fish and flavour — arranged across an upper and a lower volume. The upper volume contains four categories (water, grain, vegetables, fruit) in 212 entries, and the lower volume contains four categories (fowl, beast, fish, flavour) in 175 entries. For each entry within a category, the taste, nature, benefits and toxicity of the relevant food or plant are described, and each category closes with a general discussion of its subjects. This book does not appear in existing bibliographic catalogues and is a rare medical text, and is therefore valued as important material for bibliographical research.

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Where it is

Region

Yeonsu-gu, Incheon

Designation

Treasure · 보물