Preface Written after the Recutting of the History of the Twelve States (十二國史)十二國史重彫後序
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 1 passages · 87 Chinese characters · reading time 0.8 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 21 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.
The History of the Twelve States is the pivot and essence of the several histories. It is not burdensome to hunt through, and yet it is ample for taking the rise and fall and the good and evil of the several states for a mirror. And so Lord No Sik (盧公軾), the present Circuit Inspector (按部), though he stands in the ranks of the military, has a refined love for the learning of Confucius and the Duke of Zhou, and among the books of history he relished this one above all. He halted his carriage at Wansan and gathered craftsmen and had it cut and printed and bestowed it upon students; and this too is one way in which a gentleman who loves the good brings benefit to others. On such a day of such a month, so-and-so, Recorder (掌書記) of the Jeonju Prefecture (全州牧), writes the preface.