Early-Period T’aengniji Manuscripts

This article aims to identify the “early-period” T’aengniji 擇里誌 manuscripts through a series of processes starting from the selection of potential early hand written copies from ninety-four T’aengniji manuscripts held in libraries in Korea and abroad. I define the “early period” as stretching from the completion of the T’aengniji in 1751 to the early part of the nineteenth century. After this period, the story of Pak Sun 朴淳, an agent to Hamhŭng, was added and the following statement emerged in the “Geomancy” section: “This is not discussed here in detail because there are geomancers’ books on the subject.” The early-period manuscripts are “Tongguk p’aryŏkchi” 東國八域志, “Tongguk chirihae” 東國地理解, “T’aengniji” 擇里誌 (Dongguk University), and “T’aengniji” 擇里誌 (Korea University, Sinam). The sequence of their texts mirrors the Kosŏganhaenghoe and the Kwangmunhoe editions, printed in 1910 and 1912 respectively. The findings illuminate that, from as early as the eighteenth century, the T’aengniji was also regarded internationally as a valuable treatise as it performed a role in cultural communication between the scholars of Chosŏn and the Ching dynasty.