Page 9 - 2022UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.4

Jiyoung NOH

<From Jikji to Gutenberg>

Scientific Research

on the Early Printings

- Using the X-Ray Fluorescence Method -

The well-known 42-line Gutenberg Bible was of the anonymous Korean printers that were using
printed with moveable cast metal in Latin around movable type since at least 1377, 68 years earlier
1455 in Mainz, Germany by Johannes Gutenberg. than the 42-line Gutenberg Bible, the first book
Less well known is the fact that this printing method printed with movable type in Europe.
might have capitalized on printing technology
already used in Asia, including to print Korean
books, such as Jikji printed in 1377 and Confucious
printed in 1442 from cast metal. An interdisciplinary
team of scholars, technical personnel, and
scientists are beginning a research project into
'The Origins of Printing from Cast Metal.' This
project, led by UNESCO International Centre for
Documentary Heritage (ICDH) and the University
of Utah, is an international research project
researching and examining the history and culture
of Eastern and Western early printings, including
two UNESCO Memory of the World inscriptions, The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a non-
Jikji and Gutenberg Bible. destructive analytical technique used to determine
UNESCO ICDH st af f and t he team of the elemental composition of materials. XRF
researchers and scientists conducted seminal analyzers determine the chemistry of a sample by
research into the history of early printing and the measuring the fluorescent (or secondary) X-ray
technological links between the East and West, emitted from a sample when it is irradiated by a
especially between Korean books and European primary X-ray source. Each of the elements present
books at SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) in a sample produces a set of characteristic
National Accelerator Laboratory in July as part of fluorescent X-rays that is unique for that specific
the Bridge Program using the X-ray fluorescence element, which is why XRF spectroscopy is an
method. The research intends to clarify the role excellent technology for qualitative and quantitative

8 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 9 Memories of Today