The Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (東醫寶鑑, 1613), also known as the Donguibogam, written by Heo Jun (許浚, 1539-1615) of the Joseon Dynasty (朝鮮, 1392-1910) of Korea, is one of the best-known medical textbooks in the history of Korean medicine. It has been very popular, in academic terms as well, throughout East Asian countries, and it is also the first medical textbook to have been included in the Memory of the World Register by UNESCO. This literature has been an interesting subject of study for medical historians because Heo Jun employed the term Eastern medicine (Dongui, 東醫) and because this term is intertwined with various theses, such as spatiotemporal aspects of knowledge, universality versus specificity, centrality versus peripherality, self-awareness of local agents, and the shaping of tradition. What, then, could be said about the characteristics and historical implications of this book? An answer to this question is provided in Shin Dongwon's Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine and the History of East Asian Medicine (2015). A leading senior scholar in the history of Korean science, Shin has examined the Treasured Mirror for more than two decades. Shin's book, an expanded version of his previous book, Heo Jun of Joseon (2001), is the culmination of his many years of research.
