Precious ancient book about “Technology of the An Nam people”

Technique du peuple Annamite or Mechanics and crafts of the Annamites) is a book printed in the rustic painting style. copy (printed on one side) consisting of 348 large sheets of Do paper (62cmx44cm; 5-4cm thick) recording daily scenes daily labor of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta in the early twentieth century.

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This work was written by Mr. Henri Oger ( at that time just over 20 years old) with a number of artists, woodblock engravers and printers from 1908 to 1909 in Hanoi. For about 20 months, Henri Oger and a number of Vietnamese artists surveyed many places in the suburbs of Hanoi and 36 streets to draw more than 4,200 drawings with many different themes that they encountered.</ p>

By meticulous observation, they were able to record many of life’s details with an honest perspective. Before sending the drawings to the woodblock engraver, Henri asked the people to check them again, and then after receiving approval, he would engrave them with Nom subtitles and then print them into woodblock paintings. Each drawing usually has 2 parts: the graphic part and the Nom text part for annotation.

Because of financial limitations, Henri Oger Only 60 copies could be printed at a store owned by himself on Hang Gai street. After the French colonial period, the book Technology of the Annamese people only remained in Vietnam in 3 copies: the first incomplete copy at the Vietnam National Library in Hanoi; The second copy is relatively well preserved at the Institute of Archeology (during the Republic of Vietnam), which is the General Science Library of Ho Chi Minh City today. And another copy at the Consulate General of the Netherlands in Hanoi. The copy of the book received and displayed this time is a complete original and is probably the fourth copy present in Vietnam today.

With the enthusiastic help of Mr. Nguyen Van Me, Chairman of the Education Promotion Association of TT-Hue province (formerly chairman of the People’s Committee of TT-Hue province) is the person who bridged the above book, which was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Bui Thi Cam Ha – Le Thai (in the French Republic). donated to Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities. This is also the second time Mr. Thai and Mrs. Ha have donated antiques to the Hue Museum of Royal Antiquities.

In the book, although the images tell a simple story, they contain many hidden literary elements. transformed the rich spirit of Vietnamese people more than a century ago. Like stories about traditional occupations: agriculture, paper making, sculpture, sculpting, food processing, construction, divination, sewing, painting, painting, folk healing methods, trading, peddling… From filial events such as weddings ask the funeral funeral reception Tet to daily activities days and hobbies such as shuttlecock playing tam dais, singing drums, flying kites and butterfly rackets… have made the drawings a unique type of document when researching Vietnamese society at this period.

Readers are invited to read some interesting pages to understand more about the old lives of their ancestors:

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