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Question for February 2013

How did scribes get rid of mistakes when they wrote their books?? Asked by Denmead School (Prep Dept.). Chosen and answered by Professor Juan José Batalla

Without doubt the Mexica tlacuiloque (scribes) made mistakes in their work, and these were easy to remedy - by brushing over the error with fresh ‘stucco’ (plaster), and then drawing over the error once the plaster had dried. The Codex Borbonicus contains several such examples (see picture), though these are only visible in the best (photographic) facsimiles.

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La correccion que hacian era muy sencilla pues obviamente los tlacuiloque se equivocaban en ocasiones. Para hacer las correcciones se limitaban a tapar con estuco lo mal pintado y volvian a pintar encima del estuco lo bueno. Hay varios ejemplos de ello, pero sobre todo en el Borbonico encontramos varios. Es facil verlos en las ediciones del borbonico de 1974 (Graz) y la del FCE pues sus facsimiles son fotograficos. En ningun caso se ven en la edicion de la editorial Siglo XXI.

Comments (1)

B

Boi

8th Apr 2019

This is neat

Professor Juan José Batalla

Professor Juan José Batalla

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