조선후기 족보에서 목활자(木活字) 사용의 확대 - 규장각(奎章閣) 소장 족보를 중심으로 -

◎ 저자명: 권기석(HK교수) 

◎ 학술지: 한국사연구 제198집

◎ 발행처: 한국사연구회

◎ 간행일: 2022.12.31

Jokbo(族譜), the genealogy book of the late Joseon period was published by two printing methods: woodblock and type. Woodblock printing was more expensive than type printing, but it was possible to print a large amount over a long period of time, and type printing is suitable for printing small amounts quickly at a low cost. In this paper, the following facts were confirmed by examining the printing method of genealogy books stored in the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University. Around the late 18th century, the proportion of genealogy books printed with

woodblocks decreased, and genealogy books printed with wooden type occupied the majority. Some genealogy books were printed in metal type, but it was a printing method that could be used by a few privileged families. Wood was the main material for the publication of genealogy in the late Joseon period.

The reason for the expansion of the use of wooden type in genealogy in the late Joseon period is that the amount increased rapidly whenever a new genealogy was compiled. In order to solve the problem that the amount of genealogy is too large, genealogy books containing only certain ranches rather than the entire family name was compiled. Another solution was to print using inexpensive

wooden type. The characteristics of genealogy as a printed material were also suitable for type printing. The genealogy distributed only within the family was sufficient to meet the demand with only a small amount of printing. In addition, there was little need to preserve and reprint the woodblocks of the old genealogy because new descendants should be added every generation.

The genealogy books printed using woodblocks were mainly published by local government officials with the mobilization of their authority. In contrast, genealogy books printed using wooden types were published through collective and organizational cooperation by appointeing executives from the family. A publishing office was set up in the house of a family member, and with the money raised by many descendants, typographers were hired to print the genealogy book. These changes in genealogy publication methods were driven by the activation of the printing capacity of the civilian society. However, there was a side effect of the publication of many fabricated genealogies, riding on the trend of strengthening the civilian printing capability.