Baek Seok’s first edition of poem collection auctioned off at $63,260

The first edition of “A Deer,” a collection of poems written by Baek Seok (1912-1996), was auctioned off at 70 million won (63,260 U.S. dollars). The collection started off at 55 million won (49,700 dollars) and was eventually sold to a professional collector at an auction held by Kobay in downtown Seoul on Wednesday.

A source from the auction house said, “The first edition of Yoon Dong-ju’s ‘The Sky, the Wind, the Stars and the Poetry’ was auctioned off at 17 million won (15,360 dollars) in 2011. The winning bid of “A Deer” is the highest price in modern literature as far as I know.”

“A Deer,” which was published in a limited edition of 100 copies on Jan. 20, 1936, was sold at two won (0.001 dollar) back then. The collection consisting of four chapters contains 33 poems including “Gazurang House,” “Meorubam,” and “A story of a cow in a Buddhist temple.” As “Mr. Lee Won Jo, Baek Seok” is written in the sold collection, it appears that Baek Seok gave it to Lee Won-jo, a literary critic and brother of Lee Yuk-sa, a poet. As the limited edition was hard to come by, Yoon Dong-ju, a poet, had to transcribe Baek Seok`s poems in a library.

The seven first editions of “A Deer” are known to be in the National Library of Korea and Korea University Library. It is the first time that the edition was auctioned off.