Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư Online

Earlier today I was searching for information on early Vietnamese history, and was delighted to find out that Nôm Preservation Foundation (Hội Bảo tồn Di sản Nôm, 會保存遺産喃) has digitalized Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư, (The Complete History of Great Viet, 大越史記全書). I'd found an online copy of the Việt Sử Lược, (A Brief History of Viet, 越史略) on the Guóxué Dǎoháng 國學導航 website, and now I am happy to see a digitalized copy of the Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư (though still an alpha test version and incomplete).

Compiled in 1479 by the great Vietnamese historian Ngô Sĩ Liên (吳士連) under the order of Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗), the fourth emperor of the Lê Dynasty, Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư consciously modeled after the 11th Century Chinese historian Sīmǎ Guāng (司馬光) 's Zīzhì Tōngjìan (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, 資治通鑒), and records the history of Vietnam from the late 3rd century BCE to the early 13th century CE.

The version available in the Nôm Preservation Foundation website contains the scan of the original texts, with Han-Viet transliteration and translation in modern Vietnamese in Quốc Ngữ, unfortunately English translation of the texts is still wanting.

Other than Đại Việt Sử Ký Toàn Thư, the Nôm Preservation Foundation website, you can also find various versions of the famous Truyện Kiều (The Tale of Kiều, 傳翹), given in Chữ Nôm and Quốc Ngữ. Again, English translation is not found. I start to regret that I didn't buy a copy of the French translation when I was in Hanoi last year. The Hán Nôm Special Collection Digitization Project also contains scans of various ancient, rare books in Hán Tự and Chữ Nôm, ranging from an interpretation of the Book of Changes, folk Taoist scriptures, poems, geographical and historical treatise and other books.