Manuscript withdrawn: bound volumes with Ixtlilxochitl and Chimalpahin texts

[John Schwaller]

*From:* Gordon Whittaker <gwhitta4 at gmail.com>
*Date:* 28 May 2014 08:56:09 GMT+2
*To:* "nahuatl at lists.famsi.org" <nahuatl at lists.famsi.org>, "
aztlan at lists.famsi.org" <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
*Subject:* *Manuscript withdrawn: bound volumes with Ixtlilxochitl and
Chimalpahin texts*

I'm sure many of us were waiting with bated breath to learn the fate of
Bible Society MS 374, the official name of two bound volumes containing,
among a number of other items, several manuscripts of texts by
Ixtlilxochitl and Chimalpahin.  This manuscript has, as John Schwaller
reports, apparently been withdrawn from sale at Christie's in London.  The
texts by Chimalpahin, together with several of the minor documents bound
with them, were published years ago in a beautiful and erudite two-volume
edition by Susan Schroeder as the so-called Codex Chimalpahin, but they are
much more than that.  In an introduction to the latter edition Wayne Ruwet
describes the contents of MS 374 in admirable form (apart from his minor
confusion of Volume 1 with Volume 2).

What will come as a surprise to many is that not just texts by Chimalpahin
but also the historical works of Ixtlilxochitl are preserved in MS 374.
 These texts are at least a century older than the oldest copies consulted
by Edmundo O'Gorman in preparation of his Ixtlilxochitl edition.
 Furthermore, several are at least partly in the hand of Ixtlilxochitl
himself, as I have been able to determine after extensive study of the
originals in England.

A great part of the immense value of Ixtlilxochitl's works has to do with
his various texts relating the history of pre-Spanish Central Mexico.
 These have up till now only been published on the basis of late copies,
and the otherwise excellent O'Gorman edition has the additional
disadvantage of being an attempt at a unitary edition combining many copies
of considerably varying date and relationship, but without indicating which
wording has been adopted from which copies.  Nevertheless, O'Gorman's
introductory studies, plus the supplementary documents published with them,
represent a gigantic milestone in research on Ixtlilxochitl and his
writings.  I am now in the process of preparing a new edition of these
pre-Spanish histories by Ixtlilxochitl, the first volume of which is
already nearing completion.  This new edition, with preliminary studies and
a commentary, contains the texts as preserved in MS 374.

It surely comes as a relief to all of us that MS 374 has been granted
reprieve from potential sale to a private buyer.  Christie's, however,
which has acted very responsibly, had gone out of its way to ensure that
specialist libraries, including several in the U.S. and Europe, were
informed of the upcoming sale and had an opportunity to bid for the
manuscript.

Gordon Whittaker
_______________________________________________
Nahuatl mailing list
Nahuatl at lists.famsi.org
http://www.famsi.org/mailman/listinfo/nahuatl