The General History of the Things of New Spain, by Bernardino de Sahagún

Abstract

M OST RECENT of numerous editions of the work of the first ethnographer, this English version** of Fray Bernardino de Sahaguin's Historia de las Cosas de la Nueva Espanfa, a full treatise on the life and times of the Aztecs of Mexico, differs from all previous editions in two respects: it is a direct translation from the original Aztec texts of the Florentine Codex of the Laurentian Library in Florence in Italy and it is (or will be) a complete version of the entire Florentine Codex. The text of the Florentine Codex, the only extant complete Aztec text of Sahagin 's great work, was put together under Sahagun 's direction and on the basis of earlier manuscripts, in the Convento de San Francisco el Grande, in Tenochtitlan, former capital of the Aztec empire and then seat of Spanish power in the new world, by Tenochea scribes and amanuenses, in their speech and in their style, during the years 1568-1569. A copy of this Aztec text of 1569, prepared during the years from 1575-1577, was provided with illustrations considerably influenced by European styles, presumably by Agustin de la Fuente, a native of Tlaltelolco, and with a rough Spanish paraphrase, presumably by Sahaguin, and constitutes the manuscript, now known as the Florentine Codex, taken to Spain in 1580 by Fray Rodrigo de Sequera for delivery to the King. How it got from Spain to Italy and into the Laurentian Library in Florence we can only conjecture.