"The Tribute Roll of Montezuma."

4to. (53)-61 pp. Errata slip, 3 folding color plates. Dark green cloth, gilt spine. Blind-stamp of Mount Wilson Observatory. FINE. "These general remarks are not out of place in this connection necessary, for the method of writing developed by the ancient in which it existed at the time of their subjection by the Europeans, embodied, curiously enough, every one of these elements, pictures, symbols, ideograms and phonetic signs; and it is only by keeping this fact constantly in mind, and by seeking to render under each according to the special system which it represents, can we hope to untangle the labyrinth of the Aztec codices. / It is because this essential fact has been overlooked that the syllabaries and lists of Mexican hieroglyphs hitherto published have proved almost worthless for the decipherment of the manuscripts which have been preserved. / While it is my conviction that the above principles, judiciously applied, will result in the decipherment of the ancient records of the Nahuas, such as that which is here presented, all who are conversant with the subject will acknowledge the propriety of calling to our aid the widest range of comparisons possible before proceeding to the interpretation of a particular manuscript. The mass of unexcelled material for this study which was originally collected by Boturini [Lorenzo Boturini Benaducci (1698-1749)], and which through many perils is at last in a fair way to be rendered accessible to the scientific world, will add so much to our knowledge that it would be time lost to seek definite conclusions from the fragment here present. / Boturini went to New Spain in 1736, where he remained eight years, exploring remote regions and, in the words of Prescott, "living much with the natives, passing his nights sometimes in their huts, sometimes in caves, and the depths of the lonely forests." During those years he assembled a vast collection of paintings, maps, manuscripts and native codices. He copied more than 500 pre-Columbian inscriptions and made his own drawings of monuments and sculptures, and he investigated the history of the apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the hill of Tepeyac. He traveled widely and on his travels brought together the largest collection of Mexican antiquities assembled to that time by a European." / But the jealous Spanish government threw Boturini into prison; his library was scattered and partly lost, and he died of chagrin and disappointment. Yet to him we probably owe the preservation of the wings of Ixtlilxochitl, Tezozomoc, and others who wrote in Spanish, and whose volumes have since seen the light in the collections of Bustamente, Lord Kingsborough, Ternaux-Compans, and elsewhere. The documents were neglected there for years and suffered considerable pilferage. / Daniel Brinton was a pioneer anthropologist in the United States. Brinton was Professor of Ethnology and Archeology in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, and in 1886 became Professor of American Linguistics and Archeology in the University of Pennsylvania. DAB, III, pp. 50-51.

Product Info

Publisher: MacCalla, 1893.

Year: 1893

Type: Used

Binding: Softcover

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