The Florentine Codex

Reviews / Votes

[The Florentine Codex] offers fresh insights into the production and conceptualization of the manuscript, as well as the nuanced interchanges that occurred among its many collaborators...This book will directly appeal to those interested in sixteenth-century manuscripts of central Mexico and Nahua culture more generally. It will be an essential source for those working on the Florentine Codex. (H-Net Reviews) [A] lavishly illustrated volume...This is a very engaging and useful compilation of essays that help to illuminate the Florentine Codex. It is essential for all scholars of the contact period in Mexico and will serve as a point of departure for much additional research. (The Americas) The overall innovative quality of this volume is impressive. Above all, this important new book enhances our understanding of the Florentine Codex's third text, its illustrations, which were clearly 'eloquent images' that gave Nahuatl and Spanish alphabetic texts their enduring power. (Journal of Interdisciplinary History) The Florentine Codex provides a rich scholarly dialogue among the contributors. They commonly accept the alphabetic texts and images of the Florentine Codex as a bicultural product, but they differ in their approaches to the codex by emphasizing either indigenous or European tradition depending on their scholarly interest. Yet, their studies perfectly and harmoniously fit in the book by complementing one another. There is no doubt that this collection will serve as an important source for the scholars and students of pre-Hispanic and colonial Mexico for many years to come. (Bulletin of Spanish Studies) This book is an important contribution to Sahaguntine studies in its collection of insightful essays by established scholars, including revised versions of some now-classic scholarship. The relatively succinct chapters are well suited for university instruction, for both core curricula and specialized courses. It is a beautifully illustrated volume that will appeal to anyone interested in the early modern humanities. (Renaissance Quarterly) [A] rigorous, interdisciplinary, and engaging treatment of the most consequential manuscript on the Aztec or Nahua worlds...[The Florentine Codex] features contributions from exemplary specialists and is richly illustrated...superb. (Hispanic American Historical Review) [The Florentine Codex] will be an important source for those interested in better understanding the Nahua world before and after Spanish arrival. The volume's goal of emphasizing the Florentine Codex's paintings is well-served by the abundant images that fill the essays, all of them in color...by looking closely at the codex and asking new questions of it, each of the authors brings a distinct perspective and special insights to their task, providing a strong foundation and model for future studies of the Florentine Codex and the Nahua world. (American Historical Review) [A] lavishly illustrated edited volume...One thing that authors in the volume consistently do is pay close attention to both the Spanish and Nahuatl texts, always attentive to gaps and acts of translation-as well as censorship and resistance-between them... Even after all of the advances in this volume, there is still much more to learn about this fascinating document. (Latin American & Latinx Visual Culture)