8vo, (312 x 124 mm). 85 pp. (43 openings). Woodblock-printed in Chinese on paper, 22 joined sheets, 13 characters per column. Concertina-bound in contemporary persimmon-dyed paper covers with central gilt title. Stored in a modern navy blue chitsu; insignificant worming to covers, lower cover a little more affected, but interior not at all. Occasional very minor toning and staining, but extremely well preserved.

The present fascicle retains its traditional accordion structure and persimmon-dyed paper covers with the title and case designation stamped in gold at the centre, preserving the austere elegance characteristic of Korean canonical printing in folded format. It belongs to the monumental second carving of the Goryeo Tripitaka, the Korean Buddhist canon, undertaken after the destruction of the earlier edition and executed under royal patronage during the reign of Goryeo King Gojong. The colophon places this impression in the thirty-first regnal year, corresponding to 1244.

More than a mere canonical witness, this piece documents the material discipline of one of East Asia';s defining printing enterprises. The re-engraving of the Goryeo Tripitaka, carved between 1237 and 1248, became the textual foundation for later Buddhist scholarship and remains one of the most authoritative survivals of pre-modern woodblock printing.

Provenance: early red Japanese collection seal to first leaf; private collection, Tokyo, since 1970; French private collection.

Taisho Tripitaka no. 620, 15, 333a7-337c18. E. M. Greene, The Secrets of Buddhist Meditation: Visionary Meditation Texts from Early Medieval China (Honolulu, 2021), pp. 249-300. Cf. OCLC 1572167902.