Arnold J. Bauer

Of all the peoples of The Pre-Columbian Americas only the Mesoamericans (present-day central Mexico & Guatemala) produced books. They were known as amoxtli and tataah. They were painted books with words and pictures depicting myths, history, and every day life of the region. When Spain made its entrance into the region most of these ended up lost for all time. Some through plunder, others through neglect, but most were destroyed by bonfire around the same time Martin Luther was nailing his thesis to the door in Europe. Spain wanted to convert the region to Christianity and the painted books of the Nahua populations (Aztecs) were declared heresy and heathenish; thus they had to go even though some of the friars wanted to salvage some. It is estimated that only twelve remain. It makes me want to cry.

Not long after the originals were put into the flames, some works were commissioned to record the history of pre-Columbian times and also tell the story of the 'conversion' of the area. These became known as the Mexican Codices. Some of the pages of these books were done by scribes that still spoke the original languages and had some connections to the past of the region.

The Search for the Codex Cardona is the story of one of these codices. It appeared in 1982 along with many doubts about its authenticity and provenance. It was offered to several institutions of high renown but none actually pulled the trigger and acquired it. Bauer, a history professor in the University of California system, had seen the codex, knew it had disappeared again, got the urge to track it down and explain where it might of come from. If it was hoax. Or a high-quality forgery. This book is the tale of that search and the many players involved.

The writing style is personable not academic. It does have some disjointedness but does manage to get some of the Quixotic story told. There are still biblionuts out there that will devote a significant amount of their life to tracking a single book down. Or tracking it until the trail completely evaporates.… (plus d'informations)