Research Guides: History of Text Technologies: Early Asian Movable Type

Early Asian Movable Type

An image of 10 metal and wood Korean types

Collection of 13th-century Korean metal and wood types, the “Hwalchabon” 一활자본, [1200z]. "Due to considerable number of characters used in the Chinese language and the relatively lower cost of the technology, wood- or metal- block printing remained the dominant technology. But moveable type would have a profound effect on the West when Johann Gutenberg introduced it to Europe more than four centuries later, where no more than 100 types were needed for the Latin alphabet compared to roughly 200,000 for Chinese."

Source: Library of Congress Blog

Examples from the Collection of FSU Special Collections & Archives

Specimen pages of Korean movable types. by Melvin P. McGovern.
Call Number: Vault (oversize) ; Z186.K67 M3

Publication Date: 1966

This book contains examples of Korean movable type. Each specimen is identified in both Korean and English.

External Sources for Early Asian Movable Type

The Song Dynasty in China
An overview of printing with movable type during China's Song Dynasty.
The invention of movable metal type: Goryeo technology and wisdom
An online exhibition focusing on the invention of movable type during Korea's thirteenth-century Goryeo dynasty.