News of the RAS-KB : Publications
RAS-KB has for many years
been committed to publishing books on various aspects of Korean life, history
and culture. In the past year we have published one new title :
Early Korean Encounters with the United States and Japan, by
Dr. Lew, Young-Ick.
The book consists of six
essays on late 19th century Korean history. They deal with Korea’s relations
with the US and Japan mainly between 1882, when the Jeoson Kingdom signed its
first modern treaty with the United States, and 1905 when the same kingdom
called the Daehan (Great Han) Empire from 1987, degenerated into a protectorate
of Japan.
Dr. Lew, Young-Ick is the Chair Professor of Korean Studies at the Graduate
School of International Studies, Yonsei University and a member of the
governing council of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch. He graduated from
Seoul National University with a B.A. in political science and received a Ph.D.
in History and East Asian Languages from Havard University in 1972. He has
served as a president of the Korean Historical Association (1991-1992) and as
the founding director of the Institute for Modern Korean Studies, Yonsei
University (1997-2001). He has written a number of books and articles on late
nineteenth- and early twentieth century Korean history, notably ones on Dr.
Syungman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea.
The book
published directly before this has proven to be an outstanding success and we
have already had to reprint it :
Samuel Hawley. The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century
Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China.
In May of 1592 Japanese dictator Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent a 158,800-man
army aboard a thousand ships from Kyushu to Pusan on Korea's southern tip. Its
objective: to conquer Korea, then China, and then the whole of Asia. The
resulting seven years of fighting, known in Korea as imjin waeran, the
"Imjin invasion," after the year of the water dragon in which it
began, involved 300,000 combatants and claimed more than two million lives. It
dwarfed any contemporary conflict in Europe, and was one of the most
devastating wars to grip East Asia in the past thousand years.
"The Imjin War" is the most comprehensive account ever published in
English of this cataclysmic event, so little known in the West. It begins with
the political and cultural background of Korea, Japan, and China, discusses the
diplomatic breakdown that led to the war, describes every major incident and
battle from 1592 to 1598, and introduces a fascinating cast of characters along
the way. There is Hideyoshi himself, hosting garden parties while his armies
march toward Beijing; Korea's admiral Yi Sun-sin, emerging from a prison cell
to take on the Japanese with only thirteen ships of his own; Chinese commander
Zhao Chengxun, suffering defeat after promising to "scatter the Japanese
to the four winds"; the kisaeng Chu Non-gae, luring a samurai into her
arms and then jumping into the Nam River with him locked in her embrace.
One nation fighting to expand, another to survive. Shockwaves extending across
China and beyond. "The Imjin War" is an epic tale of grand
perspective and intimate detail of an upheaval that shook East Asia more than
four centuries ago, and that continues to strain relations today between Korea
and Japan.
In addition to the books it has published, the Society holds
a very large stock of English-language books about every aspect of Korea,
published in Korea and abroad. Many of the titles in stock are now out of print
elsewhere. Members of the RAS-KB qualify for a discount on all the books they
purchase from the society. Full details of the books published by the RAS-KB or
held in stock from elsewhere can be found through the Society's webpage at
http://www.raskb.com/
The RAS-KB was founded in
1900 and from the start has published an annual journal, Transactions.
In addition, it has accumulated a considerable reference library, parts
of which survived the Korean war thanks to the care lavished by individual
members. Some of the books even seem to have been taken to the United States
for a while. Among the nearly 1500 books currently housed in our library are a
few early editions of great rarity and of considerable scholarly interest.
Because of the lack of space in our office, the library has been on deposit at
the Social Science Archive for several years past. This is not an ideal
solution since the institute in question is not really equipped for the
conservation of old and rare books. In addition, it no longer opens to the
public on Saturdays. Alternative solutions are currently being considered.
The Library has never been the object of much particular care, the books have
accumulated rather haphazardly mainly thanks to donations by members. A sign of
the relative lack of interest is the fact that so far no online catalogue
of the library's holdings is available through the RAS-KB home page. This
will soon be remedied.
The RAS-KB is always more than happy to receive donations of books for its
library. It is anticipated that in the coming time, once the location of the
library has been settled, a concentrated effort will be made to improve its
holdings and digitalize those rare books that are too fragile to be consulted
safely. The help of interested members will then be actively sought.