FOLIO FACSIMILE EDITION OF THE CODEX MENDOZA

(AZTECS) BERDAN, Frances F., and ANAWALT, Patricia Rieff. The Codex Mendoza. Berkeley: University of California Press, (1992). Four volumes. Folio (12 by 14 inches), original full burgundy leather; housed in the original slipcase. $800.

First edition of this lavish production, including a folio color facsimile of the Codex Mendoza, a translation volume in Spanish and English, and two volumes of interpretation, explanation and bibliography.

Housed at the Bodleian Library at Oxford since 1659, and rediscovered there in 1831 by Viscount Kingsborough, the Codex Mendoza is one of the most important of the Aztec codices, created in 1535, only 14 years after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Possibly commissioned by Don Antonio de Mendoza, then Viceroy of New Spain, it consists of Aztec pictograms with Spanish explanatory text, it includes a history of Aztec rulers and their victories and descriptions of everyday life for the Aztecs.

One small tear to foot of spine of the second Volume. A lavish production in fine condition.