The 42 illustrations in the book are by folk painter Gisan (箕山) Kim Jun-geun, famous for “Gisan Folk Paintings.” He produced in bulk and sold his painted scenes of ordinary Joseon people in port cities that were open to foreign trade, such as Incheon, Busan, and Wonsan, from 1880 to 1900. In December 1894, Missionary James S. Gale, who was working in Wonsan at the time, visited Kim and entrusted him with the illustrations for the translated work.
Kim referred to the illustrations by Henry C. Selous and M. Paolo Priolo in the version published in 1860 with notes by Rev. Robert Maguire, for the composition of frames, and drew Koreans in true Korean folk style. For example, in the scene of a Christian burdened by sin, Kim drew a Korean man with an ordinary bundle on his back. Jesus in Kim’s illustration wears a gat (hat) and dopo (formal coat).
Kim’s artwork may have influenced early Korean Christian paintings in various ways. Jesus wearing a gat also appears in painter Unbo Kim Gi-chang’s work “The Life of Jesus,” produced while he was a refugee during the Korean War in the 1950s.
In May last year, the Korean Cultural Heritage Administration designated five copies of the two versions (original woodblock and new print) of the first edition of Pilgrim’s Progress as Registered Cultural Asset No. 685.
CH Books explained that their approach is a new attempt to revive the sentiment of the time when this book was first published in Korea. “Just as the book at that time became a driving force for Rev. Gil Seon-ju in the 1907 Pyongyang Great Revival, we hope this new version moves us today to yearn for God’s heaven.”
Reporter Narae Kim (narae@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Illustrations provided by CH Books
Original Article in Korean:
갓 쓰고 도포 입은 예수님, 등짐 진 크리스천… 한국적 천로역정 보셨나요: 천로역정: 조선시대 삽화수록 에디션/존 번연 지음/김준근 그림/유성덕 옮김/CH북스
