Limited editions of three poetry books Tiếng Thu (Voice of Autumn) by Luu Trong Lu, Điêu Tàn (Falling in Ruin) by Che Lan Vien, and Mê Hồn Ca (Song of the Spirit) by Dinh Hung. Photo courtesy of the publisher

The Nha Nam Publishing and Communications Company has released limited editions of three poetry books: Tiếng Thu (Voice of Autumn) by Luu Trong Lu, Điêu Tàn (Falling into Ruin) by Che Lan Vien, and Mê Hồn Ca (Song of the Spirit) by Dinh Hung.

They have included in the Việt Nam Danh Tác (Vietnam’s Famous Works) collection of 49 books featuring novels, short stories and poems by renowned Vietnamese authors, published in 2014.

The limited-edition books include hardcover editions and are illustrated by famous artists Le Thiet Cuong and Trinh Cung.

They are marked with the seal of Nhã Nam Thư Xã (Nha Nam Literature House) designed for the collection and numbered 1-555.

The books priced from VND170,000 - 200,000 (US$7.5-9) are available at Hao Nhien Books, 4 Tran Nhan Ton Street, District 10 in HCM City or via https://www.facebook.com/haonhienbooks.

According to Nha Nam, the company plans to reprint and update other famous books in an effort to honour Vietnamese authors and promote Vietnamese literature among readers.

Nguyen Cam Anh of Dong Nai Province said: “My father loves poems and likes to collect poetry books. I now can imagine his happy face when receiving those limited editions.”  

Meanwhile, the Trẻ (Youth) Publishing House has surprised fans of best-selling author Nguyen Nhat Anh with a limited edition of his popular book Tôi Là Bêtô (I Am Bêtô).

The special version consists of 196 colour pages, Anh’s signature and illustrations by Do Hoang Tuong. It is marked from S1-S100.

Tôi Là Bêtô features stories about friendship, bravery and honesty of a dog named Bêtô and his friends. It was released in 2007, and more than 150,000 copies of the book have been sold in Vietnam.

The book will be translated by Jeong Yekang from 59mins Publishing House and published in South Korea next year.

According to the Tre Publishing House, all sales of the 100 limited edition copies of Tôi Là Bêtô will be donated to children and orphans who have been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in HCM City.

The book can be purchased at the publisher’s book store at 157 Ly Chinh Thang Street in District 3.

A limited-edition of Tôi Là Bêtô (I Am Bêtô) by best-selling author Nguyen Nhat Anh. —  Photo courtesy of the publisher

Run for limited editions

Although the trend of publishing limited edition books began a long time ago, it became popular in Vietnam in 2019 when the Dong A Publishing House sold, within only two minutes, all 100 copies of the Vietnamese version of Eger Stars by Hungarian author Géza Gárdonyi with handmade gilded covers.

The 626-page book was printed in colour and illustrated by Pham Ngoc Minh Tan. It included the signatures of translator Lam Xuan Giang and bookbinder Nguyen Duc Khuynh.

Despite its price of VND1 million ($44) per copy, many readers on the publisher’s Facebook page said they were sorry they had missed buying the book.

Since then, the country’s leading publishing houses like Kim Dong, Tre, Thai Ha, Nha Nam have joined together to produce special publications to satisfy readers’ interests.

Most of the publications are works by famous Vietnamese authors like To Hoai, Kim Lan and Nguyen Nhat Anh.

Vietnamese versions of famous foreign books like Grimms’ Fairy Tales and One Thousand and One Nights are featured as well.

Some of them have gilded covers, and the others have hardcovers with illustrations by famous Vietnamese painters.

All of them are marked with special symbols from the publishers and signatures of authors and bookbinders. They are printed in high-quality paper with colour, and are sold at prices ranging from VND200,000 to 1 million.

Book lover Cam Anh of Dong Nai said: "My father and I share the same hobby of book collecting, especially limited editions. Beautiful books make us feel at ease and satisfied.”

“Although the prices of limited edition books are quite expensive, they’re worth it,” she added.

Source: Vietnam News 

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