A Study of the Books Printed with a Newly Found Font, Tentatively Named "Muin-ja"

세조조(世祖朝) 신주(新鑄)의 '무인자(戊寅字)'와 그 간본(刊本) -주(主)로 그 주자(鑄字)의 고증(考證)을 중심(中心)으로-

The author's thesis is that the types used for the large-sized characters seen in the two metal type-printed books "Kyosik chubopop karyong"(交食推步法假令) and "Yok-hak kemong yohae"(易學啓蒙要解) both printed in 1458 belong to a new metal font hitherto unnamed. The former book was compiled by Yi Sun-ji(李純之) and Kim Sok-je(金石梯) in January of 1458 in accordance to King Sejo's order. A new font was created to be used for the large-sized characters of the book. Several. months after completion of the compilation, the book was printed with mixed use of the new font and the Kabin-ja(甲寅字) for medium- and small-sized characters. The latter book had been written by King Sejo before his accession to the throne. Ascending the throne the king had his scholar-subjects examine the writing to correct it where necessary. The examination was completed in July of 1458 and printing was immediately done with the two fonts the above-mentioned, new font for the large-sized letters and the Kabin-ja for the medium- and small-sized ones. The books were granted to the scholar-subjects and the students of the Sung Kyun Kwan Academy as a royal gift. The matrix seems to have been modeled after the calligraphy of King Sejo. Because the new font was created to print the large-sized letters of the two books in 1458, it may be proper to name it "Muin-ja" using the "kanji"(干支) of the year. The author is happy to identify and include another font in the list of Korean movable types as a result of the present study.