Codices Becker I/II

Codices Becker I/II – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Inv.-Nr. 60306 und 60307 – Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (Vienna, Austria)

Mexico — First half of the 16th century

Religion, history, politics, and daily life documented over 21 years: some of the rarest and most valuable sources on the Mixtec culture of ancient Mexico

  1. Chronologically organized information about dynasties, religion, and customs in Pre-Columbian Mexico

  2. Three preserved pieces encompass a time period of 21 years and involve the saga of two Mixtec dynasties

  3. Religious, historical, and genealogical data gives an impression of religion's place within Mixtec daily life

Codices Becker I/II

Inv.-Nr. 60306 und 60307 Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (Vienna, Austria)
Facsimile Copy Available!
Price Category: €
(under 1,000€)
  1. Description
  2. Facsimile Editions (1)
Description
Codices Becker I/II

Pre-Columbian manuscripts are among the rarest hand-written documents to exist today, and some of the most coveted for their historic as well as artistic value. They offer a glimpse into a world now forever lost, whose civilizations were devastated by disease and who culture was lost in the frenzy of conquest and Christianization. Codices Becker I/II represent just such texts, offering chronologically organized information about dynasties, religion, and customs before the arrival of the Spanish in Mexico.

Codices Becker I/II

The Codices "Becker I and II" – were named according to the previous owner from Darmstadt, and it is here that it was placed in the Ethnology Museum in 1897 (formerly k.k. Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum). The codices are among a few of the remaining preserved manuscripts of their kind, making them one of the most valuable of old Mexican manuscripts. The Codex Becker I concerns itself with subject material primarily from a pre-Spanish source. The three preserved pieces (altogether 16 pages) encompass the short time period of 21 years and involve the saga of two Mixtec dynasties (including numerous relatives and siblings from this dynasty of princes). The exact chronological placement is explained by yearly hieroglyphics portrayed in a meanderingly arranged pattern of highly-detailed painted pictures. The preserved Codex Becker II is a copy of a pre-colonial manuscript from the first half of the 16th century and contains 5 pages which provide a list of monarchies and genealogical data; a historical document in which a patriarchal social order is clearly visible (the women are shown following the men to their domiciles). Religious interests (i.e. the highly detailed description of ceremonies and temple rituals), as well as certain historical writings, play the main role and give an impression of the predominant place that religion held within the daily life of the Mixtecs.


Available facsimile editions:
Codices Becker I/II – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Inv.-Nr. 60306 und 60307 – Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (Vienna, Austria)
Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Graz, 1961
Facsimile Editions

#1 Codices Becker I/II

Codices Becker I/II – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Inv.-Nr. 60306 und 60307 – Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (Vienna, Austria)
Codices Becker I/II – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Inv.-Nr. 60306 und 60307 – Museum fĂŒr Völkerkunde (Vienna, Austria) Copyright Photos: Ziereis Facsimiles

Publisher: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Graz, 1961
Binding: Leporello folding with cloth backing. Together with commentary in half leather case.
Commentary: 1 volume by Karl A. Novotny
Language: German
1 volume: Exact reproduction of the original document (extent, color and size) Reproduction of the entire original document as detailed as possible (scope, format, colors). The binding may not correspond to the original or current document binding.
Facsimile Copy Available!
Price Category: €
(under 1,000€)
You might also be interested in:
Codex Borgia – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Cod. Vat. mess. 1 – Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican City, State of the Vatican City)
Codex Borgia
Written possibly in the zone of Puebla-Tlaxcala-Cholula (Mexico) – 15th century

Painted and folded sheets with a total length of almost 11 meters: a richly illuminated testimony to the seemingly strange world of ancient Mexico before the arrival of the Conquistadores

Experience More
Codex Cospi – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Cod. 4093 – Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna (Bologna, Italy)
Codex Cospi
Mexico – 15th – beginning of 16th century

Mysterious festivals and ancient rituals adopted into the new faith: a pre-Columbian calendar as beautiful as the elaborate ceramics of the Mixtecs and a rare glimpse into the Christianization of Old Mexico

Experience More
Codex Egerton 2895 (Codex Waecker Götter) – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Egerton 2895 – British Museum (London, United Kingdom)
Codex Egerton 2895 (Codex Waecker Götter)
Mexico – First half of the 16th century

An invaluable testimony of the intermingling of cultures: the visual mirror of Mixtec culture united with beautiful indigenous and European illumination

Experience More
Codex Murua – Testimonio Compañía Editorial – Private collection of Sean Galvin (Dublin, Ireland)
Galvin MurĂșa
Peru – 1580–1600

The result of the collaboration between an Inca and a Spanish missionary: insights into ancient rituals, almost forgotten customs, and the structures of an impressive empire in more than 100 colorful miniatures

Experience More
Codex Tulane – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Rare Book Room F1219.C778 – Latin American Library at Tulane University (New Orleans, USA)
Codex Tulane
South Puebla (Mexico) – Mid 16th century

A genealogy in the form of a Mixtec scroll: the only manuscript with information about the southern Puebla region of Mexico and the treasure of Tulane University today

Experience More
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1 – Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt (ADEVA) – Cod. Vindob. mex. 1 – Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Vienna, Austria)
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus 1
Mexico – 15th and early 16th century

One of the most beautifully decorated Mixtec manuscripts still preserved today: the mythological and historical events of a lost world recorded on a nearly 14-meter-long liporello

Experience More
Blog articles worth reading
Filter selection
Publisher