AZTEC PAINTED RECORDS-continued. in the Borgian Museum at Rome; in the Library of the Institute of Bologna; and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; together with the Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix; illustrated by many valuable inedited MSS. 9 vols. impl. folio, containing upwards of 1000 large plates embracing the remains of Mexican Architecture, Art, Religion, etc. coloured (pub. £175.), hf. morocco, gilt tops, £60. 1830-48 Most of the copies of this magnificent work are now disposed of, and safely placed away in libraries, from which they are not likely to emerge again in any quantity. As a necessary consequence, there will be a considerable augmentation in the value of such odd copies as may occasionally come forward, when collections of books are thrown into the auction market. "Cet ouvrage de la plus grande magnificence, a été executé aux frais de Lord Kingsborough, qui en a fait homage à plusieurs bibliothèques publiques du continent, particulièrement à la Bibliothèque royale à Paris, et à celle de l'Institut de France. Le prix de chaque exemplaire était de 175 livres (2000 fr. Klaproth). Les quatre premiers volumes renferment les planches lithographiées, au nombre de plus de 1000; les trois autres contiennent l'explication des planches et plusieurs mémoires inédits, écrits en différentes langues, ainsi que des appendices en anglais. Le septième volume est entierement rempli par un ouvrage important qui a pour titre :-Hist. de las cosas de Nueva Espana, por el M. L. R. P. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun." Brunet. After an interval of seventeen years two more volumes of this extraordinary work were published, in every respect uniform with the preceding, consisting: 1. of Supplementary Notes in English and Spanish; 2. of extracts from the works of Torquemada, Acosta, and Garcia, illustrating the last portions of the Mexican paintings, contained in the collection of Mendoza, and showing the correspondence which exists between many of the Mexican and Hebrew laws; 3. Adair's History of the North American Indians, their customs and descent from the Jews; 4. Cartas ineditas de Hernando Cortez; 5. Cronica Mexicana de Tezozomoc; 6. Historia Chichimeca y Relaciones per Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl. When, some four centuries ago, the enterprise of Spanish navigators opened the vast continent of America to the admiration of Europe, the civilization of the New World was found to be concentrated in two spots, and two only, of that enormous territory. One of these favoured regions was Peru; the other was Mexico. IT WAS IN MEXICO ESPECIALLY THAT ART, POLITICS AND SCIENCE HAD RECEIVED THEIR GREATEST DEVELOPMENT. All AZTEC PAINTED RECORDS-continued. the rest of North America, from the shores of Hudson's Bay to the mouths of the Mississippi, was desolate and barbarous, diversified only by swamp, forest, or prairie, and populated by savages without knowledge or laws. Mexico alone redeemed the character of the new continent, and presented to the eyes of the invader a spectacle so marvellous as to satisfy even the expectations which the great discovery had raised. There the Spaniards found an organized State, an ancient polity, an opulent capital, an exalted dynasty, a formidable priesthood, and a people well skilled in mechanical and decorative arts. So great, in fact, was the proficiency of the Mexican workmen, so elaborate the system of government, and so impressive the whole evidence of wealth and grandeur, that for some time the civilization of Mexico was regarded as superior to that of Europe. Although indeed the researches of modern inquirers have enabled us to supply some corrective to these ideas, it is really probable that in certain respects the Spaniards found Mexico more advanced than Spain, and we have been recently assured on the authority of a comprehensive history that this civilization was the necessary incident of geographical and natural advantages. Such was the situation and configuration of Mexico that it could hardly fail to make progress, and all that was discovered there in the shape of national wealth or political order represented extraordinary opportunities which nature had provided."-Times, Dec. 8, 1858. 29050 Ramirez MSS. COLECCION DE GEROGLIFICOS MEXICANOS, 4 vols. sm. folio, one of them oblong, containing altogether 124 leaves of transcripts of Mexican symbols and picture-writing, made from various original designs existing in Mexico and elsewhere, by JOSE FERNANDO RAMIREZ of Durango, formerly head of the National Museum of Mexico, afterwards one of the ministers of the Emperor Maximilian, and finally resident at Bonn till his death in 1871; neatly hf. bd. not uniform, £27. This collection of facsimiles of Mexican hieroglyphics and picture writings is exceedingly interesting. Some of the copies relate to times anterior to the conquest, while others relate the facts of the conquest, and of the times immediately following. 29051 HISTORIA DE MEXICO. An oblong 4to. Album, hf. bd. so lettered, containing 21 leaves of an Historical Picture-Manuscript, reproduced in facsimile, in vivid colouring, besides different photographic views of the ruins of Yucatan (37 in number), and several others uncoloured, from the Ramirez library, £8. 10s circ. 1860 29052 MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. Lithographic Facsimile of a continuous set of Mexican Hieroglyphics, illustrating the history of the Empire, 20 leaves folded into oblong sm. 4to. shape, 20s About 1830 Apparently executed in England. 29053 OSUNA CODEX. PINTURA del Gobernador, Alcaldes, y Regidores de Mexico. Códice en geroglificos Mexicanos y en lengua AZTEC PAINTED RECORDS-continued. castellana y azteca existente en la Biblioteca del Duque de 29054 HISTORY OF MEXICO. Nican yc uiliuhtic . . . Facsimile in Colours of an Ancient Mexican MS. relating the history of the country from the early Toltec times down to the end of the first half century of the Spanish rule, 8vo. lithographic and coloured facsimile of the original, 158 pp. partly consisting of pictures, partly of Nahuatl text in Spanish letters, £8. 10s Written in Mexico 1576, lithographed at Paris by J. Desportes 29055 ANALES del Museo Nacional de Mexico, Vol. I in 7 parts, and Vol. II parts 1-6, impl. 4to. with fine plates of objects of Ancient Art, Sculptures, Idols, and Picture-Writing (these coloured), sd. £3. 10s Mexico, 1877-82 29057 EXTRACT FROM THE CONTENTS: Un Idolo Azteca de tipo chino y de tipo japones-Estudio comparativo entre el Sanscrito Ꭹ el Nagual-Palæontologia Mexicana-Aves de Mexico-Codice Mendozino; descifracion geroglifica― Pirámides de Teotihuacan-Cosmogonia Azteca-Simbolos Cronograficos de los Mexicanos-Dos antiguos monumentos de arquitectura mexicana-Historia de los Mexicanos por sus Pinturas, etc. etc. 1746 29056 BOTURINI BENADUCI (Lorenzo) Idea de una nueva Historia General de la AMERICA Septentrional, fundada sobre Figuras, Symbolos, Geroglificos y Manuscritos de Autores Indios, ultimanente descubiertos-Catalogo del Museo historico Indiano de Benaduci-2 parts in 1, sm. 4to. frontispiece, portrait, vellum, rare, £2. 10s Madrid, 1746 the same, 2 vols. in 1, sm. 4to. fine copy in green morocco extra, gilt edges, £3. 3s Written during an eight years' residence in Mexico, and as the result of a considerable acquaintance with the manners and customs of the Indians; ancient manuscripts and pictures preserved in the Monasteries, etc. It contains much important information not before published. There has been no worthier workman in the field of Mexican Antiquities than Boturini: even Lord Kingsborough's name can scarcely be placed so high. Without the indefatigable and wisely-directed researches of the Hispano-Italian, a great portion of the native contributions to Mexican history would certainly have perished. 29058 LEON Y GAMA (A. de) Descripcion historica y cronologica de las dos Piedras que se hallaron en la Plaza principal de Mexico, 1790, sm. 4to. 3 large plates, a valuable treatise on old Mexican Mythology, Astronomy, and Chronology, bd. 32s Mexico, 1792 la misma descripcion, dala á luz con notas, biografia de su autor, y aumentada con la SEGUNDA PARTE que estaba inédita, Don C. M. de Bustamente, sm. 4to. 5 plates, Spanish calf, £2.8s Mexico, 1832 29059 29060 RAMIREZ (Don José F.) Descripcion de algunos objetos del MUSEO NACIONAL de Antigüedades de Mexico, large folio, containing 1 plate of antiquities, with four leaves of description (including title), and in addition 8 photographs, and 24 original drawings of antiquities, with 3 plans of Mexico (2 in MS.), hf. morocco, £2. 16s Mexico, 1857 b. Works in European Languages. 29061 ALBUM PINTORESCO de la Republica Mexicana, folio, 45 plates of costume (coloured), views, architecture, etc. folded, cloth, 16s Mexico, s. a. (? 1848) 29062 ALEGRE (el P. Francisco Javier) Historia de la Compañia de Jesus en Nueva-España, publicala Bustamante, 3 vols. 8vo. hf. bd. £5. Mexico, 1841-2 L'histoire présente est un des meilleurs ouvrages qui nous soient restés sur cette matière, écrits par les jésuites mexicains."-Brasseur de Bourbourg. Alegre lived from 1729 to 1788. 29063 ALVARADO. Procesos de Residencia contra Pedro de Alvarado y Nuño de Guzman con notas por J. F. Ramirez, publica Ign. L. Rayon, 8vo. portrait and 3 coloured facsimiles, hf. calf, 20s Mexico, 1847 29064 ALVAREZ (J. D.) Libro de la Vida del Proximo Evangelico, el Vener. Padre Bernardino Alvarez, Patriarcha y Fundador de la Sagrada Religion de la Charidad, y S. Hypolito Martyr en esta Nueva-España, por Juan Dias de Arce, sm. 4to. frontispiece, portrait, and plate, vellum, 288 Mexico, 1762 Bern. Alvarez, born at Seville, in 1514, joined the army in Mexico at twenty years of age, but was soon banished to the Philippines. He escaped thence to Peru, entered the Church, and died in 1584. 29065 ARCHIVO MEXICANO, Documentos para la Historia de Mexico, 2 vols. 8vo. hf. bd. 35s Mexico, 1853 The second title, which is really descriptive of the contents of these 2 vols., is, "Sumario de la Residencia tomada a D. Fernando Cortes, Gobernador y Capitan-General de la N.E., y a otros gobernadores y officiales de la misma, paleografiado del Original por Ign. L. Rayon." 29066 ARLEGUI (Jos.) CHRONICA DE LA PROVINCIA DE S. FRANCISCO DE ZACATECAS, sm, 4to. hf. bd. £6. 10s Mexico, J. B. de Hogal, 1737 A valuable work, the great rarity of which is sufficiently demonstrated by its absence from the lists of Rich, Brunet, Salva, and the author of the Nuggets. Sabin, in his Dictionary of works relating to America, quotes this as a doubtful title from a London Catalogue. 29067 ARRONIZ (Joaquin) Ensayo de una Historia de Orizaba, 8vo. plate of arms, geological map, and 4 plates of Antiquities, hf. bd. £3. 16s (Orizaba) 1867 29068 AYUNTAMIENTO DE MEXICO. Libros de las Actas del Cabildo de Mexico, 6 vols. folio, neat modern transcripts with a printed title to the first volume in which the work is intitled "Copia Paleografica de los antiguos Libros de Cabildo.. dispuesta por Ygnacio L. Rayon," three volumes hf. blue and three in hf. red morocco, £180. Mexico, about 1850-60 Vol. I. Acts of the Municipality of the city of Mexico from March, 1524, to June, 1529, copied by Don J. F. Ramirez, pp. 644. Ramirez has added 169 notes to this volume, illustrating some historical points, and has made an ample Index in his own handwriting in two leaves. Vol. II. Copied under the care of the Lic. Don MANUEL OROZCO Y BERRA, containing the acts from June, 1529, to September, 1532, in 649 pp., and two leaves of Index by Ramirez. Vol. III. Copy also made by OROZCO, containing the Acts from January, 1533, to December, 1535, and extracts for the years 1536-1543, in 637 pp., and two leaves for the Index by Ramirez. Vol. IV. Containing the Acts from Dec. 1550, to June, 1559, in 489 unnumbered leaves. Vol. V. Containing the Acts from June, 1559, to Dec. 1561, in 431 unnumbered leaves. Vol. VI. Containing the Acts from Jan. 1562 to April, 1564, in 317 unnumbered leaves. This was one of the most important articles of the Ramirez collection, and ought to be secured by a Public Library in America. At the end of the first volume we learn that in the original books exists a note in the handwriting of the eminent scholar Dn. Carlos Siguenza y Gongora, in which he states that during the tumult which took place in Mexico on the 8th of June, 1692, when the mob burnt both the national and the municipal palace, he saved the original Actas. The value of these six volumes as historical documents cannot be exaggerated, and any one who has dedicated himself to the study of the years immediately following the conquest, and who knows the important part which the Municipal Councils of those times took in all public affairs of consequence, will at once recognize their utility, because they form, not only the foundation of Colonial history, but to a certain extent the foundation also of the history of a society and a civilization that were disappearing. These volumes contain also copies of a great number of "CEDULAS REALES," letters from important personages, such as Cortés, Alvarado, and others. A small part of these Acts have been printed in the Boletin Municipal de Mexico, but they consist merely of extracts, and have been edited in such a careless manner, and issued in such a small number of copies, that these volumes lose in consequence nothing either in value or importance. The printed title which was used for the first and second volumes must have been taken from an edition in facsimile of |