VietNamNet Bridge – The second edition of a pioneering book delving into the daily life and culture of Viet Nam at the beginning of 20th century has been published in Viet Nam.

Techniques of the Annamese People

was written by Henri Oger, a Frenchman who was deeply interested in Asian civilisations; the book was the result of two years of research from 1908-09 in Ha Noi.

Oger walked the streets and suburbs of the city with a Vietnamese sketch artist, gathering and collating information on the formidable variety of industries and trades that had evolved there. Thousands of drawings and sketches were assembled during that time.

In the book, drawings and sketches depict every aspect of private and public life, such as agriculture, hunting, fishing and gathering, cooking, entertainment, funeral rites, crime punishment, folk practices and ritual ceremonies.

Only 60 copies of the book were published one century ago in 1909. The two-volume book contains more than 4,000 drawings and sketches accompanied by annotations written in Nom, the Vietnamese ancient ideographic script.

Due to it’s small printing volume, the book is a rarity. Even in Viet Nam only two copies have been preserved: one incomplete in the National Library in Ha Noi and one in the HCM City General Science Library.

The second edition, published by the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in Ha Noi and the HCM City General Science Library, follows the two-volume structure of the original work.

The introductory volume’s chapter General Introduction to the Study of the Mechanics and Crafts of the Annamites has been presented in three languages Vietnamese, French and English.

A key added value of the new edition compared with the original publication is the incorporation of a version in the Vietnamese language of all titles, headings and annotations originally in ancient Vietnamese ideographic scripts.

Alongside the 2,000 printed new-edition copies, 1,000 DVDs of the two volumes also have been released. The digital version has been designed using a navigational tool embedded within the image so that readers, when clicking on a drawing, can see Oger’s notations in three languages and the translation of the captions in Vietnamese.

To promote the new edition, an exhibition displaying some images and sketches from the book, opened its door to the public at the Viet Nam Museum of Ethnology in Ha Noi this week.

Entitled Gestures and Movements: Urbanites and Peasants in the Early 20th Century, the exhibition offers visitors the opportunity to rediscover the popular culture of Ha Noi and its neighbouring areas through an abundance of techniques, attitudes and daily activities, many of which are still alive today.

The exhibition is open daily at the museum until October 10.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

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