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The Codex Nuttall, the Codex Borgia, and The Sad Night

Book Review, © Copyright 2000, Jim Loy

page from Codex Nuttall

The Codex Nuttall is a Mixtec book, and the Codex Borgia is an Aztec book. Both were originally painted on sheets of leather or bark, which were tied together in a "fan fold" arrangement (like tractor feed computer paper). These paperback versions are from Dover and are inexpensive and very nice looking. Rather than describe them, above I will show you one of the pages from The Codex Nuttall (I hope they don't mind). The colors of the Codex Borgia are a little more vivid.

There is another interesting book in the same style (but hard cover so far), The Sad Night by Sally Schofer Mathews. This book is not an old Mexican book, but is written and vividly painted as if it were. It tells the story of what the Spaniards called the sad night, the defeat of Hernan Cortes (Hernán Cortés) by the Aztecs at Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). It is a pretty book.


To order any of these books from Amazon.com, click on the name of the book (goes directly to the book):


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