The SNU Central Library, home to Korea’s most extensive collection of Western classical texts, is hosting a special exhibition titled An Invitation to Western Classical Texts: From Plato to Goethe. Held on the first floor of the Kwanjeong Library from February 10 to April 11, this unprecedented showcase offers visitors a rare chance to see historically significant Western works that have never before been displayed to the public. As the first exhibition dedicated exclusively to Western classical literature in the library’s history, the event represents a major milestone for the institution.
Entrance to the exhibition
Inside the exhibition: A glimpse into rare Western texts
SNU’s Central Library has a longstanding history of text preservation, boasting the largest collection of classical works among university libraries in Korea with over 400,000 volumes. The Central Library’s Old and Rare Books Collection houses an extensive archive of approximately 150,000 Western texts, including over 42,270 classical works published before 1900. In accordance with internationally recognized standards set by institutions such as the University of Cambridge and the University of Louisiana, the library classifies all texts printed or transcribed before 1900 as Western classical texts. Spanning from the 15th to the 19th century, the collection includes 17,543 distinct titles across 42,273 volumes. Of these, 390 are designated as highly valuable or rare.
Notably, the collection exhibits remarkable linguistic diversity, with German (19,765 volumes) being the most represented language, followed by English (14,206 volumes) and French (6,295 volumes), alongside Italian (1,035 volumes), and several others.
Inside the exhibition: display cases guiding visitors through pivotal works
A curated selection of these rare texts is at the heart of the exhibition. Highlights include the first edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Émile, ou De l’éducation (1762), a seminal work in educational philosophy, and the only known Korean-held copy of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie (1751–1772), a cornerstone of Enlightenment thought. These texts, which helped shape modern intellectual discourse, remain landmark works in Western literary and philosophical history.
A rare 1891 English edition of Karl Marx’s Capital
First edition of the 1887 English translation of Les Misérables
French and Latin Editions of Ovid’s Les Métamorphoses
Alexander Pope’s 1777 English translation of The Iliad of Homer
A rare 1567 Latin edition of Hippocrates’ works
The exhibition also offers a glimpse into the Shin Yong-ha Collection, established in 2017. Shin is a distinguished historian and sociologist known for his work on Korea’s independence movement and the history of Dokdo. His donation includes approximately 8,300 books, of which over 3,000 are Western texts, with around 1,000 classified as Western classical books. A successor to the Sangbaek Collection, the Shin Yong-ha Collection builds upon a legacy that began in 1971 with the private archives of Yi Sang-baek, a historian and independence activist. Yi’s collection, housed in SNU’s Central Library, encompasses invaluable rare books and historical documents vital to Korean research.
The Legacy of Shin Yong-Ha Collection
Classics reimagined: From page to screen
Complimentary postcard station: Personalized souvenirs to take home
Take-home mementos: Complimentary bookmarks and stationery for decoration
In line with SNU’s vision of fostering intellectual exchange, the exhibition is open not only to the SNU community but also to the general public, inviting all visitors to explore and appreciate this remarkable collection. Complimentary postcards and bookmarks are available on-site, along with coloured markers and pens for guests to personalise these keepsakes. We warmly welcome everyone to take advantage of this rare opportunity to engage with an extraordinary array of Western literary heritage, and we look forward to seeing you at the exhibition.
Written by Hyun Kyung Jung, SNU English Editor, jhyunk@snu.ac.kr