This paper basically reviewed the case of the publication of ‘early genealogy’ from the 15th century to the early 18th century (the period of King Sukjong’s reign), when genealogy appeared and spread widely, and attempted a comprehensive analysis of the trend of printing methods. Based on the following sources, this paper prepared a comprehensive list of early genealogies: First, the genealogy list existing in various institutions that own ancient books in the Joseon Dynasty; second, the previous genealogy indirectly identified in the preface of the existing genealogy; and third, the genealogy mentioned in the existing research papers. The list includes valuable books that are very helpful in understanding Joseon's genealogy culture, as well as several genealogies that convey specific editing and printing methods or show the process of developing from elementary genealogy records into publications representing the entire family name.
According to the chronological trend of genealogy compilation, the frequency of compilation is steadily increasing in the later period, and the trend of genealogy compilation began with the emergence of pioneering genealogy such as “Seonghwa Genealogy of Andong Kwon Lineage(安東權氏成化譜)” and “Gajeong Genealogy of Munhwa Yu Lineage(文化柳氏嘉靖譜)”. In addition, despite the loss of genealogy due to the Imjin War at the end of the 16th century, it can be seen that the number of publications has steadily increased since the first half of the 17th century.
As local officials often carry out publication work at the place of appointment, printing workshops became widely distributed in counties and prefectures throughout the country. In some cases, work was carried out in temples within the place of appointment. When work was done at the county government office, various local officials in blood ties formed a network to cooperate, and before the 16th century, blood relatives with different family names participated, but after the 17th century, only blood relatives of the same family name participated. However, there were cases where various families were not able to produce local officials frequently, and due to the difficult circumstances of the place of appointment, publication was delayed for a long time or only attempted. As an effort to overcome these limitations, it is possible to identify cases in which an executive in charge of editing is appointed within the family, and expenses are covered using the organizational power of the family meeting, or published by the capacity of the aristocratic society. Due to these various conditions in the genealogy compilation process, it is thought that the genealogy of Joseon naturally became oriented toward the values of the ruling status.