Details

Subject(s)

• Indigenous peoples of Mexico—Languages—Writing [Browse]
• Nahuatl language—Texts [Browse]
• Mexico—History—To 1810—Sources [Browse]
• Indigenous Studies [Browse]

Donor

• Garrett, Robert, 1875-1961 [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• Watercolors—18th century [Browse]
• Paper [Browse]

Contained in

Robert Garrett collection, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s.

Compiled/​Created

[between 1775 and 1825].

Linking notes

Forms part of the Robert Garrett Collection (C0744).

Summary note

Manuscript copy of the drawings and the Nahuatl text of the "Codex Aubin," a Mexican Indian pictorial chronicle of Aztec history from the Valley of Mexico of "Ca," composed at different dates and by different authors, with drawings and Nahuatl text. It begins with the migration from Aztlan in 1168 A.D. and continues with the dynastic history of Tenochtitlan and colonial events to 1608 A.D. The final pages list the preconquest and colonial rulers of Mexico-Tenochtitlan to about 1607. There is a 52-year calendar wheel in rectangular format on fol. 1 and the first page bears a title in Nahuatl and the date 1576.

Notes

Decoration: watercolor illustrations throughout.

Reproduction note

"Histoire de la nation mexicaine depuis le départ d'Aztlan jusqu'à l'arrivée des conquérants espagnols (et au dela 1607). Manuscrit figuratif accomagné de texte en langue nahuatl ou mexicaine suivi d'une traduction en français par feu J.-M.-A. Aubin. " (Paris: E. Leroux, 1893).

Original version

The original codex is now in the British Museum and was formerly in the Boturini and Aubin collections. The Princeton copy may have been made from the original and contains a page-by-page copy of the drawings in color; the transcript of the Nahuatl text, however, is not exact in regard to the page layout. It may have been collated with the 158 pages of the 1893 edition. There are short later Italian glosses in pencil on fol. 23r and 32v that comment briefly on the content of the codex. This copy omits the Nahuatl gloss on p. 48 of the 1893 edition and the later Spanish gloss on p. 158; otherwise the copy seems to be complete.

Binding note

Paper wrappers, sewn.

Language note

Texts in Nahuatl and Spanish.

Provenance

Rémi Siméon (b. 1827) described a copy of the "Codex Aubin" with 80 leaves or 158 pages owned by an Italian named Chialiva. He has also noted that it has an unnumbered leaf between fols. 32 and 33. This copy was probably owned by Chialiva, as it has Italian glosses and an unnumbered leaf following fol. 32. Sold in a Sotheby and Co. auction catalog of Nov. 9-10, 1936, as lot no. 240. It was purchased by Garrett through or from the London firm of Bernard Quaritch. Inside the outer wrapper is the inscription "R. G. Nov. 1936"- Robert Garrett's ownership and accession mark.

Source acquisition

Gift Robert Garrett, 1949.

Cite as

Garrett Mesoamerican Manuscripts, no. 1, Manuscripts Division, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

In

Robert Garrett Collection, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s

OCLC

60355650

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