Abstract

When an author published an anthology of his/her writings in the past, as much consideration was given to editing and proofreading as to gathering of materials and organization of the compilation. It was to minimize the number of works included in the collection and thus minimize the cost of publication, for producing a woodcut for printing and publishing were a costly endeavor. The editing and proofreading processes also helped achieve high level of quality by allowing a careful selection of finest works. Often during these processes, materials that reveal the author’s intimate voice or personal inclination were left out. Literary works as well as works dealing with the author’s daily life or personal affairs were often excluded intentionally in order to highlight the bureaucratic and scholarly side of the author. Works that could implicate the author in sensitive political issues were commonly removed from consideration for publication. Therefore, the author’s first draft, revised draft as well as the manuscript of left‒out writings attract attention from researchers. Especially, the autograph copy of the author has a greater academic value. In the case of Seopa Yu Hui’s anthology of Chinese poetry Gurok and essay collection Munrok, several hand‒scribed copies as well as the autograph revised manuscript have survived. Especially, the latter includes many works that are omitted in other manuscripts. It also contains literary critique contributed by many individuals, proofreading and revision comments in Seopa’s own handwriting, and description of why certain editing choices were made, thus providing important insights for understanding Seopa’s literature. In addition to Gurok and Munrok, most of other works are accompanied by several copies of autograph revised draft and manuscripts. Thus, needless to say, a close cross‒reference of all manuscripts should precede the full‒fledged study. The Muntong authored by Seopa is an encyclopedic compilation of writings representative of the 19th century; it is an essential literature for deepening the history of Silhak and extending its denotation. Seopa himself could not complete cataloging of his writings; his great‒grandson Yu Geunyeong, who, with the help from Confucian scholars of Yeongnam region, devoted himself to the publication of Muntong, could not finalize its format. It is because to devise a classification system encompassing the world of encyclopedic knowledge Seopa built and the wide academic spectrum that the anthology covers was such a difficult task. For that reason, I adopted the terminology mentioned by Seopa and developed the following classification criteria for grouping Seopa’s writings: Eorok, Yurok, Seodok, Gurok, Munrok, and Oejib. In addition, the author created a separate Hungo category to group Seopa’s exegetical writings.