HO CHI MINH.

Wellesley, Mass / Viet Nam:: C. David Thomas,, 2001.. Edition of 100. 13.25 x 11.25 x 2.25"; 118 pages: 59 text pages, 59 image pages. Images printed from a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet 970Cse using archival ink. Letterpress printed in Monotype Bembo by Wolfe Editions in Portland, Maine. Printed on Vietnamese Do (mulberry) paper handmade in Dong O Village in northern Vietnam. Text pages varnished to make the paper translucent. Laid in a lacquer box handmade by craftsmakers in Thanh Tri Village near Hanoi. Box laid in a handmade silk slipcover also custom made in Vietnam. Copy edited by Gloria Lee. Numbered and signed by C. David Thomas and Charles Fenn. Colophon: "Each lacquer box is made in the centuries-old method of using wood covered with a coarsely woven silk followed by thirteen coats of lacquer. Between coats of lacquer the box is hand sanded with very fine water sandpaper until the final layer, which is done by using charcoal powder and bare hands". Prospectus: "In spite of the fact that Ho Chi Minh is on nearly everyone’s short list of the most important leaders of the twentieth century, the last book published on Ho Chi Minh in the United States, before William Duiker's book Ho Chi Minh: A Life was released in the fall of 2000, was Charles Fenn’s 1973 biography titled Ho Chi Minh. Before that the only other biography written on Ho Chi Minh by an American author was David Halberstam’s 1971 book titled HO. "After more than twenty-five years this book by biographer Charles Fenn and artist David Thomas is a result of the collaboration of these two men uniquely qualified to undertake this important project. “This book includes passages from a fictional ‘diary.’ As far as we know, Ho never kept a prose diary. The purpose intended in this work of imaginative reconstruction is to evoke a sense of his personal engagement with the events of his time. The ‘diary’ is based on historical documents but should not be taken literally. Although fictional, the ‘diary’ is based on factual information found at the bottom of each page. Also included are passages from Prison Diary, a collection of poems written by Ho Chi Minh while he was in prison in China in 1942-43, as well as two stories told by Mr. Vu Ky and Mr. Dinh Duong Dinh, two of Ho’s closest friends, and poems by several of Vietnam’s leading poets.