BOOK REVIEWS Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan. A Translation. (Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, X V III). Edited with Notes by Alfred M. Tozzer. (Cam bridge, Mass., 1941. Pp. xiii+394. Frontispiece, illustrations, and plates. Cloth, $6.25; paper, $4.75.) This is the eighth edition of the Relación, the invaluable work on the Maya history and civilization of Yucatan, written by the noted Franciscan Bishop Father Diego de Landa. It is unfortunate that, in spite of diligent search by modern scholars, Landa’s original manuscript has never been found. He probably wrote it in Spain in the year 1566. All editions of the Relación have been made on the basis of a later and incomplete copy dis covered by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg in the Library of the Royal Academy of History in Madrid. The Abbé published the Spanish text with a French translation at Paris in 1864. Since then, there have been four editions published in Spanish, two in Spain (Madrid, 1884 and 1900), and two in Mexico (Mérida, 1938; Mexico, 1938). There was a second French edition (Paris, 1928-1929), which was unfinished. In recent years there have appeared two English translations, the first, by William Gates, E ublished by the Maya Society of Baltimore in 1937, and the second one y Dr. Tozzer of Harvard University. This edition which is not only the latest but undoubtedly the best, adds new laurels to the long list of Maya studies published by Harvard’s Peabody Museum. Incidentally, new light is focused upon the scientific as well as the missionary accomplishments of the early Franciscan friars in the Americas. Even the mere listing of the various editions of Landa’s Relación indicates its unique importance as the primary source for ninety-five per cent of all we know about the history, religion, ethnology, linguistics, and social anthropology of the mysterious pre-Columbian civilization of the Maya Indians of Central America. Dr. Tozzer’s work has an Introduction (pp. vii-x), followed by the Text and Notes (pp. 3-208). This English translation of the Relación is based upon that of the late C. P. Bowditch, with corrections and emendations by Professor Tozzer and his collaborators. There are 1154 notes, the work of Tozzer, which give short essays on subjects touched upon by Landa, and in many cases biographical material is supplied, and even short bibliographies on many of the topics treated in the Relación. There are also uncounted citations from old documents and from modern authorities. The exhaustive nature of these Notes makes Tozzer’s edition practically an encyclopedia of Maya research. There are four Appendices (pp. 213-239) giving English translations of related portions of contemporary Spanish documents. The Syllabus (pp. 243-333) greatly facilitates reference to any of the wide variety of topics treated in both the Text of the Relación and in the Notes. The Syllabus is, therefore, an integral and most valuable contribution in itself. There is an adequate Bibliography (pp. 337-384), a Concordance of Landa’s manuscript with its different editions, and an Index. This edition of the Relación is of particular interest to students of the 202 BOOK REVIEWS 203 Franciscan History of the Americas. Landa’s text shows the importance of the Franciscan contribution to our knowledge of the Maya Indians of Yucatan. Dr. Tozzer’s notes afford a great deal of information concerning Bishop Landa and his colleagues in the Franciscan missions of Mexico ana Central America. Diego de Landa was born in the Spanish town of Cifuentes, November 12, 1524. He entered the Franciscan Order at Toledo, Convent of San Juan de los Reyes, in 1541, at the age of sixteen. Soon after his ordination, Landa went with a group of friars assigned to the new mission field of Yucatan, where he arrived in 1549. Most of his thirty remaining years of life were spent in Yucatan, where he filled the offices of Guardian, Definitor, Custos; and in 1561 he was elected first Provincial of the newlyerected Franciscan Province of San José of Yucatan. Many historians have treated Landa...
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Jun 1, 1965
Manuel P Servín 
Open Access