First Edition of 'Nim's Silence' Sold at Highest Price in Korean Modern Literature

Final Online Auction Price 151 Million KRW
Previous Record Held by Kim Sowol's 'Azaleas'

The first edition of Manhae Han Yong-un's (1879?1944) poetry collection 'The Silence of the Beloved' was sold at an online auction for 151 million KRW.

On the 23rd, the auction company Kobe Auction announced that the first edition of 'The Silence of the Beloved,' which was featured in the 263rd 'Traces of Life' online auction held the previous day, was sold for 151 million KRW. The auction started at 55 million KRW and ended with a price nearly doubling to 100 million KRW. Kobe Auction explained, "The final price of the first edition of 'The Silence of the Beloved' is the highest ever for a modern Korean literary work, surpassing the 135 million KRW paid in 2015 for the first edition of poet Kim Sowol's poetry collection 'Azaleas.'"

The first edition of "The Silence of the Beloved," sold at the highest auction price in the history of modern Korean literature.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Beginning with the line, "You have gone. Ah, my beloved has gone," the poem 'The Silence of the Beloved' is Manhae's representative work, completed in 1925 at Baekdamsa Temple in Gangwon Province. In 1919, during the March 1st Movement, he was one of the 33 national representatives who, along with Choi Nam-seon and Son Byong-hee, wrote the Declaration of Independence and voluntarily surrendered, serving three years in prison. The first edition of the poetry collection 'The Silence of the Beloved,' which includes a total of 88 poems such as 'I Do Not Know' and 'Secret,' was published the following year in 1926 by Hoedong Seogwan (匯東書館). Although the collection was republished in 1934 by Hanseong Book Company, both the first and reprinted editions were banned by the Japanese colonial government shortly after publication, making them rare editions.

First edition of the poetry collection "Silence of the Beloved."
[Photo by Yonhap News]

At the beginning of the first edition of the poetry collection 'The Silence of the Beloved,' there is a preface titled 'Foreword' explaining the motivation behind the work, and at the end, a section titled 'To the Readers.' In the 'Foreword,' the poet directly explains the existence of the 'beloved' appearing in his work, stating, "'Beloved' is not only the beloved; everything longed for is beloved," and adds, "The beloved not only is loved by me but also loves me."

Manhae, an independence activist and Buddhist monk, left many works including the novels 'Black Wind' and 'Fate,' and Buddhist texts such as 'Theory of the Reformation of Korean Buddhism,' 'Commentary on the Ten Wise Sayings,' 'Great Buddhist Canon,' and 'Buddhism and the Kings of Goryeo,' but 'The Silence of the Beloved' is his only poetry collection.

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