Korea’s ‘Merical Heritage of the World’ Bookplate Sells in U.S. as Souvenir

Three bookplates of literary works from the late Joseon Dynasty that were taken to the United States as souvenirs in the 1970s have been returned to Korea.

The National Heritage Administration, together with the Overseas Cultural Heritage Foundation, announced on the 8th (local time) that it had received one booklet each donated from the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C.: , , and .

The 1917 engraving of is a collection of works by Kim Do-hwa, a righteous army leader who was active in Andong during the Eulmi Volunteer Army that took place after the assassination of Empress Myeongseong in 1895. is a compilation of the works and chronological records of Wooam Song Si-yeol, a Confucian scholar in the late Joseon Dynasty. The bookplate was first published in 1787, and was burned by the Japanese military in 1907. Song Si-yeol’s descendants and Confucian scholars reprinted it in 1926 based on the book. The bookplate engraved in 1824 is a bookplate of the literary works of Beonam Chae Je-gong, a civil servant in the late Joseon Dynasty. The books of and are also included in the ‘Korean Confucian Bookplate’, a UNESCO Memory of the World registered in 2015.

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Bookplates that were taken out to the United States as souvenirs in the 1970s and returned to Korea as donations. From the left, bookplates of , , and . Provided by the National Heritage Administration

There were about 1,000 editions of , but currently, about 20 remain in Korea. A total of 11,023 books of were reprinted, but some were lost. In the early 1970s, Aaron Gordon, an American working at the Korean branch of the U.S. Agency for International Development, purchased one copy of each of the two bookplates from an antique dealer in Korea and brought them to the United States. The letters that should have been inked were painted over with gold and silver, and the rough handles on both sides were replaced with processed wood, making it look like a souvenir.

Gordon’s wife owned the edition of , and the edition of was owned by his younger sister. When Gordon’s wife inquired about donating the bookplate of to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art last year, the Overseas Foundation decided to hand it over.

Of the total 1,159 bookplates, only 358 remained in Korea. This bookplate was purchased at an antique shop by an American who worked in Korea in the early 1970s, and received as a gift from the family of Kim Eun-hye, a Korean-American. Mr. Kim also accepted the donation offer from the U.S. office of the Overseas Foundation and donated it this time.

The National Heritage Administration said, “The relics donated this time show how some of the bookplates stolen or lost in Korea in the 1970s were turned into souvenirs and then exported overseas. They are an important clue to understanding the reality and aspects of cultural heritage being exported overseas at the time. We believe there will be more similar clues, and we will continue to take follow-up measures to uncover additional cases in the United States and encourage voluntary return.”

Meanwhile, on the 9th (local time), Heo Min, Director of the National Heritage Administration, together with Ambassador to the United States Kang Kyung-wha, decided to attach a commemorative bronze plate for ‘Korea’s first embassy’ to the consulate building of the Embassy in Washington. This building is where the Korean government established the first Korean embassy in 1949. This is the third time that the National Heritage Administration has attached a commemorative copper plate to overseas cultural heritage, following the Korean Embassy in the United States in 2021 and the Korean Embassy in the United Kingdom in 2023.