The Florentine Codex, Book Eleven: Earthly Things: A General History of the Things of New Spain
English
By (author): Arthur J.O. Anderson Charles E. Dibble Arthur J. O. Anderson
Two of the worlds leading scholars of the Aztec language and culture have translated SahagÚns monumental and encyclopedic study of native life in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. This immense undertaking is the first complete translation into any language of SahagÚns Nahuatl text, and represents one of the most distinguished contributions in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics.
Written between 1540 and 1585, the Florentine Codex (so named because the manuscript has been part of the Laurentian Librarys collections since at least 1791) is the most authoritative statement we have of the Aztecs lifeways and traditionsa rich and intimate yet panoramic view of a doomed people.
The Florentine Codex is divided by subject area into twelve books and includes over 2,000 illustrations drawn by Nahua artists in the sixteenth century.
Book Eleven is a beautifully written and careful documentation of all of the animals and plants known to the Aztecs in the sixteenth century. As the volume with the most illustrations, Earthly Things allows the reader to look at the natural world through the eyes of the Aztec.