Collection of Vietnam's first printed newspapers over 100 years old
Báo Dân trí•21/06/2024
(Dan Tri) - A collector in Ho Chi Minh City keeps hundreds of old newspapers from many periods of the country's history. Among them is Gia Dinh newspaper, the first newspaper written in Vietnamese script in Vietnam.
Hidden deep in an alley on Nguyen Van Troi Street (Phu Nhuan District, Ho Chi Minh City), there is a small coffee shop that is preserving and displaying hundreds of collections of artifacts recreating Saigon before 1975. Among them, there is a collection of more than 500 old newspapers from many periods of Vietnamese history. Among them, many newspapers have historical value such as Gia Dinh Newspaper, edited by Mr. Truong Vinh Ky. Gia Dinh Newspaper is the first newspaper written in Vietnamese script, with the Gia Dinh Newspaper edition, dated September 2, 1890, preserved; or Tieng Dan Newspaper of Mr. Huynh Thuc Khang. This newspaper was only circulated for about 16 years... The owner of this collection of old newspapers is collector Huynh Minh Hiep (born in 1973, Ho Chi Minh City). Mr. Hiep is currently working at the Unesco Center for Research and Conservation of Vietnamese Antiquities. Luc Tinh Tan Van newspaper was collected by Mr. Hiep about 10 years ago. This was the first daily newspaper of Saigon's press village. After its establishment, Luc Tinh Tan Van opened a new era for Saigon's national language press, an era of informative press, closely following social life and stimulating patriotism of the masses. One of the old newspapers that Mr. Hiep carefully kept was Tieng Dan (No. 665, published in 1934). Born in the Central region with the first issue on August 10, 1927, Tieng Dan newspaper of Mr. Huynh Thuc Khang claimed to "cry out" to the press to fight for national rights. Starting his collection in 1993, Mr. Hiep now has hundreds of old newspapers. Among them, Gia Dinh Newspaper is the one he preserves most carefully. Gia Dinh Newspaper is the first Vietnamese newspaper written in Quoc Ngu script, launched in 1865 in Saigon. Gia Dinh Newspaper contributed greatly to the dissemination and perfection of Quoc Ngu script in the development of Vietnamese literary history. The selling price of the Gia Dinh newspaper was also announced in the "price to buy the newspaper" section with the following content: Anyone who wants to buy should go to the Nam Ky Hiep Ly mandarin's residence, the interpreter's office, and have their name registered. If they buy for a whole year, the price is 5 silver coins, if they buy for 6 months, it is 2 and a half dongs, and if they buy for 3 months, it is 1 dong, 1 quan, 2 and a half tiens. According to Mr. Hiep, during a business trip to Hanoi in 2020, he had the opportunity to meet a long-time collector. Through conversations, he learned that this person kept the Gia Dinh newspaper, a newspaper that very few people in Vietnam own. After that, Mr. Hiep offered to transfer the newspaper to keep in his collection. However, it took several months and many times of persuasion for this person to agree to leave it to Mr. Hiep. "Currently, the Gia Dinh newspaper is of interest to many people and they want to buy it at a high price, but I definitely won't sell it because I want to keep and preserve it," Mr. Hiep shared. Mr. Hiep carefully preserves his collection of old newspapers, carefully wrapped in plastic bags to prevent mold. Newspapers nearly 100 years old, eaten by termites and torn, were carefully glued and preserved by Mr. Hiep. Some newspapers have rotted and are no longer intact because they have been printed for more than 100 years. Many of Mr. Hiep's favorite newspapers are framed and displayed in his own space for friends to visit and admire. In addition, he also owns a number of comic printing plates of a newspaper magazine published from the early years of the 20th century. In addition to his collection of ancient newspapers over 100 years old, Mr. Huynh Minh Hiep is also known by many people for other collections such as ancient coins, music covers, classic cars, stamps, etc. Collector Huynh Minh Hiep, Deputy Chief of Office of the Unesco Center for Research and Conservation of Vietnamese Antiquities, was honored to be officially recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization for setting a record with the largest collection of market vouchers and documents and artifacts related to the Covid-19 pandemic in localities of Vietnam.
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