The History of the Former Han Dynasty (simplified Chinese: 汉书 or 前汉书; traditional Chinese: 漢書 sometimes, 前漢書; pinyin: Hànshū; Wade-Giles: Ch'ien Han Shu) is a classical Chinese history finished in 111 CE, covering the history of China under the Western Han from 206 BCE to 25 CE. It is also sometimes called the Book of Former Han. A second work, the History of the Later Han Dynasty covers the Eastern Han period from 25 to 220, and was composed in the fifth century by Fan Ye (398–445). Various scholars have estimated that the earliest material covered in the book dates back to between 206 and 202 BCE. The book also contains the first written historical mention of Japan.

This book is the essential version, as to be the classical work, matches with a lot of illustrations.