The Annals of Dai Nam (Đại Nam thực lục) is the biggest and most significant series of historical book complied by the Historical Office. The book set were continuously compiled by generations of royal historians in nearly 100 years, from the 2nd year of Minh Menh reign to the reign of Khai Dinh (1919 – 1925).
The Annals of Dai Nam was written in form of a chronicle with two parts: the Prequel record (Tiền biên) and the Principle records (Chính biên). The Prequel record (or the Preceding Book of the Veritable Records of Great Men) recorded events during the reigns of 9 Nguyen Lords starting from Nguyen Hoang when he became the Defense Command Governor of Thuan Hoa in 1558 until the end of Nguyen Phuc Thuan’s reign in 1777. The compilation of the Prequel records was initiated in the 2nd years of Minh Menh reign (1821) and the carving was completed in the 4th year of Thieu Tri reign (1844). The Principle records continued to record history of Nguyen Dynasty from 1778 to the reign of Khai Dinh (1916 – 1925). The book set was divided in to different parts (Kỷ), each part is a narrative about an emperor. The first part recorded historical events under Gia Long reign; the second part recorded Minh Menh reign, the third part recorded Thieu Tri reign, the fourth part recorded Tu Duc reign, the fifth part recorded from the end of Tu Duc reign to Kien Phuc reign; the sixth part recorded Ham Nghi reign and Dong Khanh reign; the supplement to the sixth part recorded Thanh Thai reign and Duy Tan reign and the seventh part recorded Khai Dinh reign.
It’s a great effort of the royal historians in the Historical Office to write such a detailed and authentic information and there is no doubt that it’s the biggest and most valuable historical book set of Nguyen Dynasty.
The National Archives Center No. 4. keeps 7,139 plates of the woodblocks of this book set.
