(VOVworld) - The first Hanoi Old Book Festival 2014 took place in late November, attracting a great number of book lovers. The event is of great significance as it has encouraged the reading culture among Vietnamese people while introducing book lovers to famous time-honored books.
Festival goers found many old books on sale here. For book lovers, books will never get old although they were published a long time ago. Books are always new to those who have never read them before. Old books on display range from literature, history, to science and technology. Most of them date back to the early 20th century. People found it interesting to explore the entire process of making such old books, from the year when the books were printed, to the papers used to print the books, as well as their editing and publishing process. Nguyen Ky, an old book collector, told VOV: "Most of the festival goers are fans of old books, especially those of limited editions that have been no longer reprinted. A festival like this will definitely further popularize the reading culture among Vietnamese people."
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Another reader, Phan Thi Van Anh, told VOV that book lovers like her come to the festival to eyewitness the books published during the 50s, 60s, and 70s of the previous century to see how their covers and content were displayed, arranged, and illustrated. She added that it’s even more important and interesting for them to discover the perspectives of the books’ authors as well as the social problems covered in the books back then. She said: "I think that old books have their own culture and values. Some people search for such those books because of their historical values. Some love them because their content and values are closely associated to their past memories. Some simply find old books interesting for their antique designs and printing styles."
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The event offers book lovers the opportunity to exchange their old books for new ones. And if old books are on sale, they are often sold at negotiated prices between the buyers and the sellers. Le Van Hop, an old book lover who owns a book stall at the festival, said: "We are book lovers and we want to share this hobby with other fellows who are also interested in books. Old books show us how passionate and careful the book authors in the past were. They devoted all their knowledge and efforts in every word in the books despite backward printing technologies in the past, which is difficult to find in today’s books. This festival gives many people a ticket to their childhood through books they read when they were kids."
Many people prefer old books to the reprinted or republished ones as they treasure the moment when books were freshly released. At the festival, people can find many books published 50 years or a hundred years ago but still look pretty new as they have been carefully preserved of people from generation to generation. Le Thai Ha and her husband are among the festival goers: "People have different hobbies. I’m sure that book lovers are very happy with this festival where they can find old books with rich values."