This research investigates Chilseobang(七書房), one of private bookshops which published books in the Jeonju province from 1908 to 1940. In this research, the period of its publishing, and the editions, subjects, titles and imprints of its publications are examined.
On the colophons of books published by Chilseobang, Jang Hwansun(張煥舜) was recorded as an editor and a publisher, and Kim Kwangsu(金光秀) was a printer who worked from 1916 to 1918. Particularly, a lot of copies of Chilseo, that is, Seven Confucious Classics were published in 1916.
In terms of editions, the majority of the publications were wood-block prints(97.5%) and only few were books printed in wooden movable types(2.5%).
In terms of subjects, the class of Confucious Classics was predominant in numbers(78%), and among them, there were a lot of Four Confucious Classics, and some Books of Changes and Books of Documents. The rest were chronologies in the class of History(14.4%), encyclopedic works in the class of Miscellaneous Topics(6.8%), and novels in the class of Collections(0.8%).
Among a total of 27 titles, there were the largest number of JuyeokJeonuidaejeon(周易傳義大全), and Tongnamosippyeonsangjeolyohae(通鑑五十篇詳節要解), Maengjajipjudaejeon(孟子集註大全), Juyeokeonhae(周易諺解), Noneoeonhae(論語諺解), Jungyongeonhae(中庸諺解) were published several times. Karye(家禮), Somigasuk-jeomkyobueumtongnamjeolyo(少微家塾點校附音通鑑節要), Tongnamosippyeon-sangjeolyohae(通鑑五十篇詳節要解), and Jeongseondongnaeseonsangjwassijeoneui-guhae(精選東萊先生左氏博義句解) were published twice.
There were no copyrights on their colophons. On the imprint of 1916, four other bookshops, including Changnamseokwan(昌南書館), Singuseorim(新舊書林), Hoidongseokwan(匯東書館), and Dongmiseosi(東美書市), as well as Chilseobang(七書房) were registered as a printer and publisher. In 1917 and 1918, however, only Chilseobang(七書房) was registered as a printer and publisher, Changnamseokwan (昌南書館) was registered as the sole agency in charge of selling its publication.