The fifth installment of a book series consisting of Western and Asian classics was released on Friday, at a low price to make the texts accessible to the less fortunate.

Published by nonprofit corporation Olje, the “Olje Classics” series’ newly released books are: Sigmund Freud’s “The Interpretation of Dreams” (Die Traumdeutung); Unified Silla (688-935) philosopher and poet Choe Chi-won’s “Gyewon Pilgyeongjip” (Poems and Prose from Choe Chi-won); and “Myung Shim Bo Gam,” a book of selected phrases and words from Chinese classics, complied by a Goryeo (918-1392) scholar Choo Jeok (1246-1317) in 1305. 

“Gyewon Pilgyeongjip” has been published in two separate volumes.

With the new additions, the series now consists of 17 Asian and Western classics, including Korean translations of Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra,” John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” Plato’s “The Republic” and Ming Dynasty scholar Hong Zicheng’s “The Caigentan.”

Olje only published 5,000 copies of the books as limited editions, and put aside 1,000 copies for donations. The remaining 4,000 copies will be on sale for 2,900 won at Kyobo Book Center’s stores and website for the next six months.

The 1,000 reserved copies will be donated to various institutions including libraries, military bases and welfare organizations. The series’ previous installments all sold out in the first 15 days of release.

Local businesses Samsung, Hyundai Motors and Shinwon Group funded a large part of the latest installment of the series. For more information, call (02) 720-8278.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)