A very rare regionally published work intended for those studying Chinese and Annamese. Jean Louis Taberd (1794-1840) was a French missionary born at Saint-Etienne, France. After becoming a missionary in 1820 he was appointed to Cochinchina where he was Vicar Apostolic. By 1830 he was Bishop of the see of Isauropolis. In 1833 the Emperor Minh Mang was persecuted and Taberd was forced to flee the country. He settled in Calcutta after travelling via Penang.

With the help of the Governor-General of India Lord Auckland, he published a Latin Vietnamese dictionary in 1838 improving on the work o Alexandre de Rhodes and Pigneau de Behaine. The following year he published this work which an instruction book on the Chinese and Annamese languages. The title translates as ‘Documents of right reason or form of instruction for the use of Chinese students, Anamites, and catechists’. It was published in Serampore, now in West Bengal. The historical city was part of Danish India between 1755 and 1845. The Mission Press was founded in 1800 by the British missionaries William Carey, William Ward and Joshua Marshman. It was the primary press in Asia at the time and operated from 1801–32. It was particularly significant for its preparation of movable type for Chinese characters. This book is written in Latin text with Chinese characters and Annamese transcriptions. A very rare imprint with only the one reference that could be identified. Not in Cordier (1912-32); Diehl, Katherine Smith (1964) ‘Early Indian Imprints. An exhibition from the William Carey Historical Library of Serampore’, 420; Not in Lowendahl (2012).