A privately printed memoir, 1970

Nhớ Thương

On 20 December 1969 the companion of thirty years of the writer Toan Ánh died at the Grall hospital in Saigon, aged 46, leaving him with their eleven children.

Six days later, on 26 December, he began writing "Nhớ Thương", and finished on 14 March 1970 — a memoir addressed to her rather than about her. Printing was completed on 10 August 1970 at the Chí-Thanh press in Saigon: no publisher, no cover price, never sold.

Read Nhớ Thương About Toan Ánh Browse the works

Portrait

Keeper of the old ways

A photograph of the writer Toan Ánh in later life

Toan Ánh, born Nguyễn Văn Toán, came from Thị Cầu in Bắc Ninh — the Kinh Bắc region of quan họ folk song and village festivals. He began writing in 1934, and across more than seven decades he recorded the customs, beliefs, festivals and folk verse of the Vietnamese, from the countryside to the cities and from north to south.

On the pen name

His given name was Nguyễn Văn Toán, and those who knew him called him "anh Toán" — brother Toán. Read backwards, the two syllables give the name he wrote under: "Toan Ánh".

Digitised

Four Hanoi imprints, 1942–1950

The earliest of his books to survive, and little recorded in bibliographies today. All four come down to us through the legal-deposit copy held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, which has digitised each one complete. The facsimiles can be downloaded here.

Bước Đầu

Comedy play — the only work of this genre in his entire career, and his earliest surviving book. BnF note: "[Le premier pas, comédie]".

Printing completed on 7/7/1942. In addition to the regular paper edition, there were fifty vellum paper copies numbered 1–50, each with the author's signature — according to the last page of the book.

Nhà in An-Thịnh, 181 Rue du Coton, Hà Nội, 1942 · 74 tr.

Kịch

Library record: BnF ↗

Digitised edition

Read the printing 8.5 MB

Machine-read text (PDF) 0.9 MB — The text was read from the facsimile by machine and has not been corrected. These books use pre-reform orthography, so errors are frequent — the facsimile is the authoritative copy.

Digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) ↗

Phong Lưu Đồng Ruộng

Study of Northern rural customs and country pastimes. The 1957 edition clearly states "3rd printing" — the 1958 date is often mentioned as the third printing, not the first.

Ánh Hoa, Hà Nội, 1943 · 152 tr.

Reissued: Hà Nội: Minh Tuấn 1952 · Sài Gòn: Nam Sơn 1957 (in lần 3)

Biên khảo

Library record: BnF ↗

Digitised edition

Read the printing 15.5 MB

Machine-read text (PDF) 0.8 MB — The text was read from the facsimile by machine and has not been corrected. These books use pre-reform orthography, so errors are frequent — the facsimile is the authoritative copy.

Digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) ↗

Trong Lũy Tre Xanh

Short story collection criticizing rural outdated customs.

The first page of the book records the printing license issued on 1/7/1944 and the line "first printing"; therefore, 1944 is recorded here, while some library records state 1945. The 1957 date marks a reprint in Sài Gòn.

Nhà xuất bản Hàn-Mặc, 26 Phố Hàng Quạt, Hà Nội, 1944 · 136 tr.

Reissued: Sài Gòn 1957

Truyện ngắn

Library record: BnF ↗

Digitised edition

Read the printing 16.5 MB

Machine-read text (PDF) 0.7 MB — The text was read from the facsimile by machine and has not been corrected. These books use pre-reform orthography, so errors are frequent — the facsimile is the authoritative copy.

Digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) ↗

Thanh Gươm Bắc Việt

Historical novel set against the resistance against the Yuan-Mongols. BnF note: "L'épée du delta tonkinois, roman."

Nhà in Minh-Tuân xuất bản, 15 Phố Nhà Thương Chữa Mắt, Hà Nội, 1950

Tiểu thuyết lịch sử

Library record: BnF ↗

Digitised edition

Read the printing 13.8 MB

Machine-read text (PDF) 1 MB — The text was read from the facsimile by machine and has not been corrected. These books use pre-reform orthography, so errors are frequent — the facsimile is the authoritative copy.

Digitised by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) ↗

Principal series

Nếp Cũ

An eleven-volume study of Vietnamese daily life — from the passage of a single life to the village, its festivals, its beliefs and its quieter pleasures.

Nếp Cũ 1/11

Nếp Cũ: Con Người Việt Nam

The life cycle of Vietnamese people from birth to death — birth, study, starting a family, funerals, reburial.

Nam Chi Tùng Thư, Sài Gòn, 1965 · 422 tr.

Reissued: Khai Trí 1970 · NXB TP.HCM 1991 · NXB Trẻ 2023

Biên khảo

Library record: Cornell ↗

Nếp Cũ 2/11

Nếp Cũ: Tín Ngưỡng Việt Nam (Thượng)

The system of Vietnamese folk beliefs — ancestor worship, deities, folk Buddhism.

Nam Chi Tùng Thư, Sài Gòn, 1967 · 475 tr.

Biên khảo

Library record: CiNii ↗

Nếp Cũ 3/11

Nếp Cũ: Tín Ngưỡng Việt Nam (Hạ)

Continued research on beliefs — magic, fortune-telling, feng shui, funeral customs.

Nam Chi Tùng Thư, Sài Gòn, 1968 · 451 tr.

Reissued: Hoa Đăng 1969

Biên khảo

Library record: CiNii ↗

Nếp Cũ 4/11

Nếp Cũ: Làng Xóm Việt Nam

Village life — structure, village conventions, communal house, rural market, village solidarity.

Photos in the book by Nguyễn Cao Đàm, Nguyễn Mạnh Đan, Trần Lê Sinh and Trần Cao Lĩnh.

Phương Quỳnh, Sài Gòn, 1968 · 471 tr.

Biên khảo

Library record: Open Library ↗

Nếp Cũ 5/11

Nếp Cũ: Hội Hè Đình Đám (Thượng)

Traditional Vietnamese festivals — communal house festivals, village festivals, rituals, palanquin processions, entertainment.

The reprint in Houston, Texas is the only overseas reprint found among all his books.

Nam Chi Tùng Thư, Sài Gòn, 1969 · 303 tr.

Reissued: Houston, Texas: Vietnamese Book Store, khoảng thập niên 1980

Biên khảo

Library record: Cornell ↗

Nếp Cũ 6/11

Nếp Cũ: Hội Hè Đình Đám (Hạ)

Continued research on festivals — pagoda festivals, market festivals, spring festivals, games at festivals.

Nam Chi Tùng Thư, Sài Gòn, 1974 · 356 tr.

Biên khảo

Library record: Cornell ↗

Nếp Cũ 7/11

Nếp Cũ: Bó Hoa Bắc Việt

The gentle, virtuous, and capable qualities of Vietnamese women in the Northern region.

Vạn Lợi, Sài Gòn, 1959 · 137 tr.

Biên khảo

Library record: CiNii ↗

Nếp Cũ 8/11

Nếp Cũ: Hương Nước Hồn Quê

Folk songs, proverbs, and love stories used to explain folk poetry — love for homeland and country.

If 1999 is the year of creation and not a reprint year, then this is a book he wrote in his eighties.

NXB Thanh Niên, 1999 · 433 tr.

Biên khảo

Library record: Princeton ↗

Nếp Cũ 9/11

Nếp Cũ: Cầm Kỳ Thi Họa

The four noble arts — music, chess, poetry, painting in the life of ancient Vietnamese people.

NXB Trẻ, 2023 · 446 tr.

Biên khảo

Nếp Cũ 10/11

Nếp Cũ: Thú Vui Tao Nhã

Traditional pastimes — Chinese chess, composing poetry, flower arranging, tea appreciation.

Printed together with Bó Hoa Bắc Việt. This is the subtitle of Các Thú Tiêu Khiển Việt Nam.

NXB Trẻ, 2023 · 376 tr.

Biên khảo

Nếp Cũ 11/11

Nếp Cũ: Trẻ Em Chơi

Vietnamese folk games — ô ăn quan, jump rope, stone skipping, kite flying, tug-of-war.

NXB Trẻ, 2024 · 500 tr.

Biên khảo

See all

Press

What was written about him

Nhân Dân24/06/2004

Nhà văn Toan Ánh với những giá trị truyền thống dân tộc

The interview was conducted when he was old, on the occasion of signing a contract with NXB Trẻ to publish all 124 works. He talked about thirty years of living with his wife, about the memoir written after her death, and about the worry that cultural heritage is fading away.

Read the archived copy →

Tuổi Trẻ24/06/2004

Nhà văn Toan Ánh: Gìn giữ nét đẹp truyền thống dân tộc

A portrait written while he was still alive, on the occasion of a contract with NXB Trẻ for 124 published and unpublished works, to be released within the period 2004–2015.

Read the archived copy →

Nhân Dân07/02/2005

Hương vị Tết xưa trong tác phẩm của nhà nghiên cứu Toan Ánh

Recreating the atmosphere of traditional Tết through his research writings, and recording his concern about the speed of custom changes.

Read the archived copy →

See all