Colophon to the Collected Works of Dongpo (東坡), Newly Cut at the Jeonju Prefecture全州牧新雕東坡文集跋尾
夫文集之行乎世。亦各一時所尙而已。然今古已來。未若東坡之盛行。尤爲人所嗜者也。豈以屬辭富贍。用事恢博。滋液之及人也。周而不匱故歟。自士大夫至于新進後學。未嘗斯須離其手。咀嚼餘芳者皆是。其摹本舊在尙州。不幸爲虜兵所焚滅。了無孑遺矣。完山守禮部郞中崔君址。好學樂善君子人也。聞之慨然。方有重刻之志。時胡騎倏來忽往。間不容毫。州郡騷然。略無寧歲。則似若未遑於文事。而太守以爲古之人。尙有臨戎雅歌。投戈講藝者。文之不可廢如此。以是邑之大也。此一段幺麽事。咄嗟可辦。而若以彼區區戎醜之故。將姑息以俟太平。庸詎知後之來者又因循姑息。便不成吾志耶。遂直斷聞于上。上亦好文。欣然允可。於是當虜之未來。間農之未作。使之雕鏤。不日迺畢。費不煩而力有餘矣。非夫幹事貞固。綽有餘裕者。孰於此時成大事如此其敏耶。其爲政之大體。亦可知已。君於予爲門人。故託以標識。予亦嘉君之以他邑之亡書。以爲私憂。移之其邑。汲汲於補益學子。是以粗書本末。以跋其尾云。時龍集柔兆㴫灘辜月日。金紫光祿大夫參知政事修文殿大學士監修國史判戶部事大子大保臣李奎報序。
That a man's collected works should go about in the world is also only a matter of what each age esteems. Yet from old times until now none has gone about so abundantly as Dongpo's, nor been the more relished by men. Is it not because his weaving of words is rich and ample and his use of old matters broad, so that the moisture of it reaches men widely and does not run dry? From the great officers down to the later students newly come forward, all are such as never let it out of their hands for a moment and chew its lingering fragrance.
The blocks of it were formerly at Sangju (尙州), but unhappily they were burned away by the troops of the barbarians, and not the least remnant was left. Choe Ji (崔君址), Vice Director of the Board of Rites (禮部郞中) and Governor of Wansan, is a gentleman who loves learning and delights in the good. Hearing of this, he was moved, and had a mind to cut it anew.
At that time the barbarian horsemen came suddenly and suddenly went, and there was no space between to admit a hair; the prefectures and the districts were in an uproar, and there was not the least peaceful year. So it seemed as though there could be no leisure for the business of letters. Yet the governor held thus: 「Among the men of old there were still those who sang the proper songs in the face of battle, and who threw down the spear and discoursed upon the arts; so plainly letters are not to be given up. This district is large, and this one trifling matter can be managed in the blink of an eye. If for the sake of those petty barbarian wretches I put it off in a makeshift way and wait for great peace, how am I to know that those who come after will not drag on and put it off in their turn, so that my purpose is simply never accomplished?」 In the end he decided straightway and reported it to the king, and the king too, loving letters, gave his glad assent. So, taking the time when the barbarians had not come and the interval when the farm work was not yet afoot, he had it cut, and in not many days it was finished. The cost was not burdensome, and there was strength to spare.
Unless a man were upright and firm in the managing of affairs and had something in reserve, who would accomplish a great work at such a time as nimbly as this? The large frame of his governing may be known from this as well.
Since the gentleman is my disciple, he asked me for a mark to set upon it. And I too think it fine that he took a book lost in another prefecture for his own private sorrow and moved it to his own prefecture, and was diligent in adding to the store of students. For this reason I have roughly written down the beginning and the end of the matter and attach a colophon at its tail. In the eleventh month of the Byeongsin year, on such a day, your servant Yi Gyubo — Grand Master of Golden Purple and Glorious Emolument (金紫光祿大夫), Participant in Deliberations on Government (參知政事), Grand Academician of the Sumunjeon (修文殿大學士), Supervisor of the Compilation of the National History (監修國史), Superintendent of the Board of Revenue (判戶部事), Grand Tutor to the Heir Apparent (太子太保) — writes the preface.