On November 11, Nha Nam book company announced the publication of The Tale of Thuy Kieu, an edition edited by two scholars Bui Ky and Tran Trong Kim, to celebrate the 250th birthday of the great poet Nguyen Du.
Cover of The Story of Thuy Kieu published by Nha Nam in 2015
According to Nha Nam, this edition, first printed by Vinh Hung Long Library in 1925 and republished in 1927 after detailed editing, has a quite special position.
Then, since 1958, Pho Thuong publishing house has republished it many times.
The book company also explained further that the name `The Tale of Kieu` is just a folk name that people are used to using to talk about the work, not the official name.
Nha Nam decided to republish The Tale of Thuy Kieu in its entirety, edited by Bui Ky and Tran Trong Kim, only correcting words that were misspelled because The Tale of Thuy Kieu, has been thoroughly researched by two leading scholars.
The cover painting is the work of artist Le Van De, printed in the `Collection of Nguyen Du’s commemorative literature` published in 1942.
To exonerate the book cover, the company also said that the cover of the book The Tale of Thuy Kieu is the painting in this collection of Nguyen Du’s commemorative literature, by Mr. Le Van De, a famous artist who was the valedictorian of class I.
According to ancient book collector Vu Ha Tue, this painting once appeared on the cover of Binh Minh newspaper, commemorating the 200th anniversary of Nguyen Du’s birth.
The story of Thuy Kieu published by Nha Nam also has a number of illustrations taken from the collection of Nguyen Du commemorative literature published by the Quang Tri – Hue Association in 1942. This booklet includes 11 color paintings printed on
Nha Nam’s careful explanation may not completely silence public opinion, but it also tells us more about the publishing history of this masterpiece.
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