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The Bodleian Library’s Mesoamerican Manuscripts

The Bodleian Library’s Mesoamerican Manuscripts. Chris Fletcher, Head of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford chris.fletcher@bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Bodleian Library. 1327 – University Library being built 1488 – Duke Humfrey’s Library 1550 – Denuded of books by Henry VIII reformers

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The Bodleian Library’s Mesoamerican Manuscripts

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  1. The Bodleian Library’s Mesoamerican Manuscripts Chris Fletcher, Head of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford chris.fletcher@bodleian.ox.ac.uk

  2. Bodleian Library • 1327 – University Library being built • 1488 – Duke Humfrey’s Library • 1550 – Denuded of books by Henry VIII reformers • 1602 – Refounded by Sir Thomas Bodley • 1610 – Deposit Agreement with Stationers’ • Over 400 years of concerted collecting, cataloguing and reading

  3. The Bodleian Today • Largest university library in Europe • Second largest in UK • 9 million books • 33 km Special Collections • Many buildings across the city • Major redevelopments occurring • Weston Library: dedicated to Special Collections

  4. The Bodleian’s Mexican Treasures All acquired C17 Three screenfolds: • Codex Laud. MS. Laud Misc. 678 • Codex Bodley. MS. Mex. d. 1 • Codex Selden. MS. Arch. Selden. A. 2 One roll of native amatl paper: • The Selden Roll. MS. Arch. Selden. A. 72 (3) One European-style book on imported European paper: • Codex Mendoza. MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1

  5. Codex Laud (MS Laud Misc. 678) • Acquired 16 June 1636 • Donated along with many mss from William Laud, archbishop of Canterbury • Screenfold – the smallest, oldest, most mysterious of the 3 we own • Obscure geographic origin • Divinatory and ritual aspects of the native calendar • Pre-Hispanic – no clear consensus on date?

  6. FACSIMILE of Codex Laud

  7. Codex Laud: The Rain God as Lord of Time

  8. Codex Laud – The Red Sun God

  9. Codex Bodley (MS Mex. D. 1) • Acquired through Thomas Bodley who knew its Mexican origin • Just Pre-Hispanic • Mixtec screenfold – glued deerskin • 23 pages, of which 20 painted both sides • genealogies of the ruling dynasties of two Mixtec communities, Ñuu Tnoo (Tilantongo) and Ndisi Nuu (Tlaxiaco). • Maarten Jansen & Gabina Aurora Pérez Jiménez, ed., _Codex Bodley: a painted chronicle from the Mixtec Highlands, Mexico_ (Treasures from the Bodleian Library, 1), Oxford 2005

  10. Codex Bodley (MS Mex. d. 1)

  11. Codex Selden • Acquired 1659 as part of John Selden’s Library • Second of our two Mixtec screenfolds • Genealogy and life stories of the ruling dynasty of the town of Añute • Genealogies go to 1556 … • Survival of native culture? • But it is also a palimpsest

  12. Codex Selden

  13. The Selden Roll (MS. Arch. Selden. A. 72(3)) • Acquired from the Library of John Selden, 1659 • Roll of native amatl paper (pulped bark) • Mounted C19 on linen • 38 x 350 cm • Early colonial period, C16 • Southern Mexican highlands • Migratory journeys of divine ancestors, up to early settlement

  14. The Selden Roll (MS. Arch. Selden. A. 72(3))

  15. Codex Mendoza (MS. Arch. Selden. A. 1) • First hand account of Mexica culture • Made in Mexico at the command of Mendoza, viceroy of Mexico, c.1541 • Sent to Emperor Charles v • Captured by French Privateers • Possessed by Andre Thevet, French cosmographer to the King 1553 • Other owners include Samuel Purchas: ‘the choisest of my Jewels’ • Acquired 1659, as part of John Selden’s library

  16. Codex Mendoza: folio 2r • 71 folios Spanish paper • Aztec painter • Native speakers interpreted the pictures for the Spanish scribe • Three parts – history of Aztec conquests, the tribute paid by the empire’s 38 provinces, typical lives from birth to death • The founding of Tenochtitlan!

  17. Codex Mendoza, f. 40 Different provinces yield: • Warrior costumes • Bees’ honey • Copper axes • Turquoise stones and masks • Tiles of gold

  18. Codex Mendoza: Folio 51r – a wedding ceremony

  19. Existing Bodleian resources/surrogates • Codex Bodley reproduction and study, pub 2005 by Bodley Publications • Codex Mendoza – 4 vol 1992 Facsimile pub. Berkeley in collaboration with Bodleian • Images of varying quality from all 5 manuscripts available on Bodleian Digital Image Library • Existing high quality digital scans of Bodley, Selden • Existing 5x4 transparencies of Mendoza, Seden roll • Little coverage of Laud

  20. Digital Projects • Opportunities to exploit and enhance existing information/images – 25, 000 slides of medieval & renaissance illumination on Luna • Jane Austen – a new online edition with images • John Johnson – mass digitization but with rich catalogue records • Shakespeare’s Quartos – powerful encoding • Digital Image Library http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk/digitalimagelibrary/index.html

  21. Future ideas • Further integration of digital resources • Enhancing quality of images AND metadata • Integration with catalogues • Exploiting existing scholarship • External collaboration with international and national partners where possible

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