During the Joseon Dynasty, bookcases were essential pieces of furniture for a sarangbang, the special room where the male head of the household would reside, study, and receive male guests. The most prestigious households had separate libraries in which to keep their books, but it was still practical and proper to have a bookcase in the sarangbang for those books that were used most frequently. This particular three-tiered bookcase exudes a simple, austere beauty, exemplifying the design standards of the Joseon era. The doors are made from the wood of the odong tree, which was seared with an iron and then scrubbed with bundles of rice straw. This process, called the nakdong method (烙桐法), removes the soft fibers from the board, leaving only the firm, hard grain of the wood. The technique, which revealed the pristine beauty of the natural wood grain, was primarily used for sarangbang furniture. Although such furniture is obviously manmade, it retains such natural beauty that we can almost feel the breath of the wood. As a central feature of a sarangbang, this type of furniture matches the dignity and nobility of any scholar.