How reliable is a Maya codex facsimile?
score:7
According to the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies (FAMSI), William Gates' facsimile is
very pleasing to the eye, colorful, and uses his own type-font for all the glyphs. I can't say that it is the most accurate rendition, but it is fun to look at.
The site mentions a number of other facsimiles, including
In 1975, the Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, of Graz, Austria, printed a facsimile from color photos of the WWII-damaged original....It is remarkably good, and the worst of the damaged pages have been reproduced again from Förstemann in a separate accompanying booklet. The Graz Dresden, and its Chiapas copy (within the book of Thomas A. Lee, Jr., "Los Códices Mayas", 1985) have been used as important stand-bys by Mayanists since their publications.
Downloads are available from this site for the Kingsborough and Förstemann versions.
There is also a much more recent facsimile, Ancient Mayan Message: Dresden Codex Facsimile by Olga Judith Najarro Ibarra (2017) but I have not been able to trace any peer reviews for this book. According to the text on the back cover, the facsimile "is based on a comparison between several pre-WWII facsimiles of The Dresden Codex, when the codex was in better conditions."
Upvote:9
I do not know your version of the codex. No reliability assessment from me.
Looking for the Dresden Codex it is best to go to the source: Dresden.
The Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) has the codex and it has digitised it:
Der Dresdner Maya-Codex (direct link to codex / in English):
- is the oldest and best preserved book of the Maya
- consists of 39 leaves written on both sides and originally folded as a leporello made of fig tree bark, exhibited in 2 parts with a total length of 3.56 m between glass in the treasure room of the SLUB
- contains various almanacs, divination calendars, astronomical tables, ritual regulations and numerous representations of gods
- is a key document for the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphs and for the study of astronomy and chronology of the Maya
- has been acquired in 1739 by the first librarian Johann Christian Goetze in Vienna and has been identified as a Maya manuscript only in the 19. century
- has been reproduced in facsimile several times and is subject of numerous publications
This original was digitised in 2009 and represents the state of preservation – or decay – at that time. Facsimiles, reproductions or repaintings from an earlier date are partly reconstructions and partly draw from a better state of preservation, so most of these have both their caveats and their value.
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