Painted Books from Mexico: Codices in UK Collections and the World They RepresentThe painted books of ancient Mexico constitute a particularly important chapter of world literature. The work of the tlacuilo, or scribes, goes back thousands of years before the Spanish Conquest; their exquisite manuscripts were written and drawn on native paper or skin and, later, on European paper. The vast majority of these codices were destroyed during the invasion; a precious few have survived. About twenty of the finest of these are in British collections and Professor Brotherston has undertaken a close study of them, comparing them with Mexican books in America and elsewhere. Besides being beautiful works of art in their own right, the codices offer invaluable insights into the history, religion and legends of the ancient civilisations of Mesoamerica: the Olmec, Maya, Chichimec and Mexica (Aztec). The books meticulously record wars, conquests, dynastic disputes and the biographies of great rulers like the Mixtec king Eight Deer. Complex ritual calendars give a framework for the religious observances of these peoples and offer testimony to their obsession with dates and record-keeping; maps record the spread of the Mexica, Chichimec and Mixtec across Mesoamerica. After the Conquest most of the 'pagan' books were burned, but the book-making tradition continued and retained many of the old forms and conventions. Post-Conquest legal documents, for example, give stark evidence of the rapacity and brutality of the invaders. |
Contents
CHAPTER ONE COMMENTARIES 177 | 10 |
Maya scribe Madrid p 72 | 13 |
Year markers Various | 14 |
Copyright | |
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Apoala arena Aubin Azcatitlan Aztlan Aztlan Annals birth Brotherston Calacoayan calendar Cantares mexicanos centre century chapter Chichimec Chicomoztoc Cholula Cholula Plain Coixtlahuaca Colhuacan Cortes Cuauhtinchan Annals Cuauhtinchan Map Cuauhtitlan Annals Cuextlan Cuicatlan Deer's dynastic eagle east Eight Deer feasts Féjérváry figs Flint Florentine Codex Florentine Codex Book four Gulf Coast Highland Basin highland Tula HMAI Huaxtec Huey Tollan Huitzilopochtli Jaguar kindling Landbook Laud maize Malintzin Maya Mendoza Codex Mesoamerica Mexica Mictlan migration Miltepec Mixtec Moctezuma mountain Nahuatl native Night Lords Nine Wind Olmec pair place glyphs place sign pre-Cortesian quarters Quecholli Quetzalcoatl Rabbit Reed river screenfold script Selden Roll Seven Caves snake Spaniards Spanish story Tenanitec Tenochtitlan Teotihuacan Teotlillan Teozacoalco Annals Tepanec Tepetlaoztoc Tepexic Annals Tepotzotlan Texcoco Tilantongo Tizatlan Tlahuixtlahuaca Roll Tlapiltepec Tlaxcala Tlaxcala Codex Tlaxcala Lienzo Tochpan Lienzos Tollan Toltec tonalamatl toponyms tradition tree tribute Tula Tututepec Upper Papaloapan Xaltepec Xolotl Xolotl Maps Zouche