While several local book collectors sell their precious tomes abroad, a handful of collectors are devoted to preserving and sharing their prized collections of rare books.

The architect who collects old books

33-year-old Vu Ha Tue, an architect by profession, inherited his passion for old books from his father, who was a teacher before 1975.

Although Tue’s father lost some 5,000 books, his remaining tomes account for half of Tue’s current collection.

After 1975, Tue’s father sold old books on the street. During this time he learned how prized books were leaked from reputable families’ collections to the street and garnered much experience in tracking time-honored books. He later passed all this knowledge down to Tue.

As a child, Tue adored the books of Jules Verne. He painstakingly searched for every translation of his books available and systematically preserved them. He has been an avid book collector ever since.

During his process of collecting books, he delved into historical and cultural research. He has written research papers that discuss his findings in depth and even provided sound counterarguments against reputable researchers’ works.

He also collects celebrated politicians’ and authors’ autographs and samples of handwriting, which are associated with the country’s different historical periods.

While concern has been raised in recent years over the flow of treasured books to other countries, some expat Vietnamese collectors have entrusted Tue with several of their prized books. He’s also working to get two rare Vietnamese books sent home from abroad.

Tue is also working with his friends to make copies of rare books for local researchers and students to use. He’s also willing to cooperate with publishers in their research of old books.

Unread books are ‘dead’ books

Though Hue is home to a number of book lovers and several family libraries, the owners usually keep their treasured books to themselves and restrict public access to them.

In contrast, Nguyen Huu Chau Phan, a 76-year-old retired teacher, has realized his deceased father’s wishes of setting up a free library for the public, particularly students and intellectuals.

Phan, who was a history teacher and an education expert, has always remembered his father’s philosophy that books that aren’t read by many are worthless.

After 1975, he ran a library in a public high school, which was considered one of the country’s best.

In 2006, Phan set up his family library, which boasts over 12,500 books and is open free to everyone, including foreigners, three days a week.

His books are written in several languages including Vietnamese, ancient Chinese, English, French, and Latin, and are sorted in categories: forestry, fine arts, culture and history— most of which are about Hue—and dictionaries.

Among his rare books are “Le Royanme D’Annam et Les Annamite” (The An Nam kingdom and people) by J.I. Dutreuit de Rhins, which was published in Paris in 1870, and “Chinese arts,” released in Switzerland in 1964.

Unlike other libraries that charge quite a lot for photocopies of their books, particularly rare ones, Phan offers copies of passages of his books—or even the entire book—for free, and isn’t bothered about the possible damage to his century-old books that photocopying could cause.

“People really need the books, but as I don’t allow them to borrow my books, I should make free copies for them. It costs quite a lot, but it’s considerably cheaper than losing the books,” Phan shared.

Phan’s library has drawn a large number of readers, who are mostly local students and graduates. Many from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and even expats come to his library on a regular basis.

As Phan has yet to set up indexes of all his books, he serves as both the librarian and the “living index.” He allows readers to find the books they need or searches for the books himself.

He also translates parts of books in other languages for the readers and suggests books for students to read for their assignments or dissertations.

Phan adores those who cherish books as he does. One of his favorite readers is Australian graduate Lawrence Raymond Fife, who earned his PhD from an Australian university in 2009 with his dissertation on a scenic destination in central Vietnam. Fife visited  Phan’s library often during his stay in Vietnam.

Phan has also released the journal “Nghien cuu Hue” (Research on Hue), one of his father’s wishes. However, he’s frustrated that he’s running out of time for his father’s two other dreams: to release an encyclopedia about Hue and to set up a committee to study various issues about the culturally rich city in greater depth.