Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 253-372Thomas, Cyrus
History
Aids to the Study of the Maya Codices: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 253-372
Thomas, Cyrus
Codex Dresdensis Maya; Maya language
"In considering this, our attention is attracted by the position of the
four blank pages, three of which are together, the fourth alone. It might
be expected that the separate blank page began or concluded the second
piece and was purposely left blank, because in the folding of the whole
it would have lain outside and thus been exposed to injury; the other
three would be expected at the end of the first piece. The former, as is
easily seen, was quite possible, but the latter was not, unless we assume
that even at the time Aglio took his copy the original order had been
entirely disturbed by cutting and stitching together again. The four
blank pages show no trace of ever having contained writing; the red brown
spots which appear on them are to be found also on the sides that contain
writing. Perhaps, therefore, those three continuous pages indicate a
section in the representation; perhaps it was intended to fill them later
on; in a similar way also page three has been left unfinished, because
the lower half was only _begun_ by the writer.
"I do not wish to conceal my view that the two pieces which Aglio found
were separated from the beginning; that they belong even to two different
manuscripts, though written in the same form; but, since it is human to
err, I will here and there follow custom in the succeeding pages in
speaking of one codex.
"My conviction rests especially on the fact that the writer of manuscript
A (pp. 1-45) endeavors to divide each page by two horizontal lines into
three parts, which the writer of manuscript B (pp. 46-74) rarely does.
The more precise statement is as follows: In A, pp. 1-23 and 29-43 always
show two such lines in red color; pp. 25-28 have no red lines, but
clearly show a division into three parts; p. 24 is the only one of this
manuscript that has only writing and no pictures and where the greater
continuity of the written speech forbids tripartition (here ends one side
of the manuscript); finally, p. 45 seems to be marked as the real end of
the whole by the fact that it contains three very light lines, dividing
it into four parts; moreover, everything on this page is more crowded,
and the figures are smaller than on the preceding pages, just as in some
modern books the last page is printed more closely or in smaller type for
want of space. In the same manner I suspect that p. 1 is the real
beginning of the manuscript. This is indicated by the bad condition of
leaf 2 44, which has lost one corner and whose page 44 has lost its
writing altogether. For, if in folding the codex leaf 1 45 was turned
from within outward, somewhat against the rule, leaf 2 44 was the outer
one, and p. 44 lay above or below, and was thus most exposed to injury. I
will not omit mentioning that my attention has been called by Dr. Carl
Schultz-Sellack, of Berlin, to the possibility of leaves 1 45 and 2 44
having been fastened to the rest in a reversed position, so that 43, 1
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account