Heading: (Mexico)
Author: Kingsborough, Edward King
Title: Antiquities of Mexico: Comprising Fac-Similes of Ancient Mexican Paintings and Hieroglyphics... Together with The Monuments of New Spain by M. Dupaix...
Place Published: London
Publisher:Robert Havell and Colnaghi, Son, and Co./Henry G. Bohn
Date Published: 1831-1848
Description:

9 volumes. Illustrated with approx. 799 plates of lithographs by Agostino Aglio, some mounted on india proof paper, a few folding, a few hand-colored. (Elephant Folio) 54x37.5 cm (21¼x14¾"), bound by James Wright in green half-morocco and marbled paper-covered boards, spines lettered in gilt, raised bands, top edges gilt.

A monumental publication in the dissemination of Pre-Columbian and early colonial Mexican art and culture, Antiquities of Mexico gathered the far flung Aztec codices, which had been pillaged to the various libraries of the colonial powers in Europe, together into one multi-volume facsimile. The work is also a cautionary tale of the extremities to which the "gentle madness" can drive the enthusiastic bibliophile – in Kingsborough's case to the belief that he had found the lost tribes of Israel, to bankruptcy – and ultimately to an early death. According to Dana King in her article "A Book to Die For" Edward King Kingsborough was "...a wealthy Irishman who was studying at Oxford University when he stumbled across The Codex Mendoza. This document, a 16th-century Aztec codex valued for its depiction of the Spanish conquest through Aztec pictograms, was created in Mexico and then sent to Spain by the conquistadors. En route, it was stolen by French pirates, sold off, changed hands several times, and finally ended up in the Bodleian Library in 1659, where it sat languishing in obscurity for almost 200 years until Kingsborough rediscovered it...To complete this enormous undertaking, Kingsborough hired an Italian painter and engraver, Augustine "Angostino" Aglio. Aglio traveled to the royal libraries of Paris, Berlin, Dresden, the Imperial Library of Vienna, the Vatican, Rome, Bologna, and Oxford. It took Aglio somewhere between six and ten years to travel to all the libraries and make drawings from the originals. Aglio used translucent paper to make tracings in a one-to-one ratio, and then transferred the drawings to lithographic stones upon his return." Kingsborough would be in and out of debtor's prison as a result, and eventually succumbed to typhus before the work was completed. Initially intended to be a work of 7 volumes (and stated as such on the title pages), the last two volumes were published by Bohn 10 years after the death of Kingsborough. Brunet; vol. 3, col. 663; Graesse; vol. 4, p. 19; Sabin,; vol. 9, p. 484-485, item 37800. Institutional stamps on pastedowns and individual plates, library call numbers and stickers at heels.

1. Copy of the Collection of Mendoza, Bodleian Library, 73 pp. -- Copy of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Royal Library at Paris, 93 pp. -- Facsimile of a Mexican hieroglyphic painting from the collection of Boturini, 23 pp. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, collection of Sir Thomas Bodley, Bodleian Library, 40 pp. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, Selden Collection of Mss. in the Bodleian Library, 20 pp. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican hieroglyphic painting, Selden Collection, 1 roll.

2. Copy of a Mexican ms. in the Vatican Library, 149 pp. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting given to Oxford University by Archbishop Laud, Bodleian Library, 46 p. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, Imperial Library at Vienna, 66 p. -- Facsimiles of original Mexican paintings deposited in the Royal Library at Berlin by Baron De Humboldt, and of a Mexican bas-relief, Royal Cabinet of Antiques.

3. Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, Borgian Museum, College of Propaganda, Rome, 76 p. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, Royal Library at Dresden, 74 p. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting in the possession of M. De Fe?je?rvary, at Pess, Hungary, 44 p. -- Facsimile of an original Mexican painting, Vatican Library, 96 p.

4. Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix, from the original drawings [black and white lithographs] executed by order of the King of Spain; in three parts -- Specimens of Mexican sculpture in the possession of M. Latour Allard, Paris -- Specimens of Mexican sculpture, British Museum -- Plates copied from the Giro del Mondo of Gemelli Careri, with an engraving of a Mexican cycle from a painting formerly in the possession of Boturini -- Specimen of Peruvian Quipus.

5. Extrait de l'ouvrage de M. De Humboldt sur les monumens de l'Ame?rique (p. [1]) -- Esplicacion de la coleccio?n de Mendoza (p. [37]) -- Explicacio?n del Codex Telleriano-Remensis (p. [127]) -- Codice mexicano, che si conserva nella Biblioteca Vaticana, al No. 3738 MS. (p. [159]) -- Viages de Guillelmo Dupaix sobre la antiguedades mejicanas (p. [207]) -- Libro sexto de la reto?rica y filosofia, moral y teologia, de la gente mexicana / Frayle Bernardino de Sahagu?n (p. [345]).

6. Appendix: [Kingsborough's] Interpretation of the hieroglyphical paintings of the Collection of Mendoza -- Explanation of the hieroglyphical paintings of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis -- Translation of the explanation of the Mexican paintings of the Codex Vaticanus [incl. copious notes] -- The Monuments of New Spain / by M. Dupaix [translation of Viages de Guillelmo Dupaix] (p. 421) -- Notes.

7. Historia universal de las cosas de Nueva Espan?a / por Fr. Bernardino de Sahagu?n.

8. Supplementary notes -- Supplementary extracts from Spanish authors: [excerpts from] La Monarqui?a Indiana de Torquemada [on Indian customs and practices, with notes in English] -- [excerpts from] Sobre el origen de los Indios / Garcia -- Historia del origen de las gentes que poblaron la America septentrional / Mariano Ferna?ndez de Echevarri?a y Veitia (p. [159]) -- Tercera [y cuarta] noticia[s] de la segunda parte de las Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme / Fr. Pedro Simon (p. [219]) -- History of the North American Indians, their customs, &c. / James Adair (p. [273]) -- Cartas ine?ditas de Hernando Corte?s (p. [401]) -- Relaciones ine?ditas de Ferna?ndez de Oviedo (p. [419]).

9. Cro?nica Mexicana de Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc (p. [1]) -- Historia Chichimeca por Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (p. [197]) -- Relaciones de Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (p. [317]) -- Ritos antiguos, sacrificios e idolatrias de los Indios de la Nueva Espan?a y de su conversio?n a? la fe?e y quienes fueron los que primero la predicaron (p. [1]-60 at end).Additional shipping charges may apply

Bindings in varying condition with rubbing and abrasions to leather, rear joint of Vol. I starting from heel, a few volumes with leather corners peeling off, rubbing to paper covering boards, Vol. I with paper substantially chipped at rear; rear hinge of Vol. V. starting; plates with varying degrees of foxing, toning and bleaching, a few minor margin tears; very good overall.