[1] Benedict Thiện was a Vietnamese Catholic pastor and a member of the Society of Jesus in 17th-century Hanoi.
He summarised Vietnamese royal chronicles with information about geography, culture, religions and churches.
He presented the book to his superior bishop Giovanni Filippo de Marini, who then left Vietnam in 1661.
It had no title, and later was named and regarded as Lịch sử nước An Nam by bishop Đỗ Quang Chính.
[2] The original manuscript is currently stored inside Vatican Library, Holy See.