Wonjojeongbonnongsangjibyo vol. 5~7

The Nongsangjipyo (Essentials of Agriculture and Sericulture) is an agricultural manual compiled in 1273 by the Office of the Grand Minister of Agriculture under Emperor Shizu of Yuan China (r. 1260–1293) and disseminated in 1286. Together with the contemporary agricultural treatise of Wang Zhen, it is a valuable source for understanding the actual state of agriculture in Yuan-dynasty China. It was first introduced to Korea during the Goryeo period, and was reprinted around 1372, as recorded in the postface to the Nongsangjipyo in volume 9 of the Mogeunjip. In the Joseon period, out of concern that ordinary people would not understand written Chinese, the state had vernacular Korean glosses inserted phrase by phrase and had the text engraved on woodblocks and widely distributed — a fact recorded in the Sillok (Veritable Records). This book, held at the Seoul Museum of History, comprises volumes 5 to 7 of the Wonjojeongbonnongsangjibyo, the 'authentic Yuan-court edition' of the Nongsangjipyo, originally in seven volumes. In volume 5 the first four leaves are missing, and in volume 7 the text is missing from a point partway through leaf 42 onward. The leaf numbering runs consecutively from volume 5 through volume 7, and what survives runs from leaf 5 of volume 5 to the front of leaf 42 of volume 7. The contents cover melons, vegetables and fruit in volume 5; bamboo, trees and medicinal herbs in volume 6; and livestock rearing and related seasonal tasks in volume 7. At the end of volume 7 is written 'Wonjojeongbon Nongsangjipyo, volume 7, end of the lower volume', showing that the work was originally published in three volumes — upper, middle and lower. Judging by its typographic format, it is thought to be a woodblock print from the transition between late Goryeo and early Joseon. A middle and a lower volume of the same edition are known to survive in a private collection. Although incomplete, with sections missing at front and back, this book — together with the Sasichanyo, a manual of seasonal agricultural tasks — greatly influenced early Joseon agriculture. It is a rare surviving example among known agricultural treatises, and a valuable resource for the study of agricultural history and bibliography from the late Goryeo to early Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산