Three Years in Vietnam (1907-1910). Medicine, Chams and Tribesmen in Nhatrang and Surroundings (Historical Reprints) by Gabrielle M. Vassal - 1999

Bangkok: White Lotus, 1999. Paperback. Near Fine,. Near fine - a very neat, bright copy. Octavo in illustrated wrappers, 283 pages including frontispiece photograph of the author, maps, 88 page album (most full page) photographs by the author, index. A small Chinese stamp to front endpaper. Originally published as 'On and Off Duty in Annam' by Heinemann in 1910, the book is a fascinating account of a young woman's views of women, household life and gender relations in France's Indochinese colony.

Bangkok: White Lotus, 1999. This doctor's wife's diaries cover a great number of aspects of the life of Vietnamese, Cham and hill tribe people around Nhatrang as well as that of the life of a French medical doctor and his wife in colonial Vietnam. Gabrielle Vassal, a British national, had a good eye for the position of women and for daily household life and used her keen sense of observation and inquiry to analyze what she saw. The Vassals engage in the usual touristic and health excursions to the Langbian plateau with its agricultural station, but also in big game hunting, at that time still acceptable. The book provides a good overview of local ceremonies, superstitions and beliefs, and of the medical issues confronting the administration. This book's descriptions are greatly enhanced by more than one hundred extremely rare period photographs of all aspects of the life of these peoples and of some of the old Cham monuments in Nhatrang. Reprint of the 1910 edition. 284 pp., over 100… Read More