As late as 1519, the same year that Hernán Cortés had begun his conquest of Mexico, he sent the Spanish King and Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) two books of the "Yndios," as he wrote, to give his sovereign an insight into the New World. It stands to reason that one of these books was the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, which the conqueror of Mexico considered representative of this type of book, which was unfamiliar in Europe. If it did indeed reach Europe so early, it is a special favor of tradition that this Codex of the Mixtecs is now preserved in the British Museum and is available in a beguiling facsimile edition. The 11-meter-long leporello of deer parchment contains extensive depictions of rituals, but above all historical representations, which include expansive geographical depictions. Their size is characteristic of the codex, making it an exciting source for the history, art, and religion of ancient America in general and the Mixtecs in particular.