Aztec books - an introduction

What was a book made of?
Aztec books were widely varied in their material of production, which ranged from tree bark, to European paper, cactus fibre and animal skins.
Books were painted!
We often call Aztec books ‘codices’, which is a medieval word for ‘book’ or ‘manuscript’. Pre-Hispanic and colonial codices communicated through painted pictures, not words. However, some colonial codices show pictures accompanied by European writing. This must have been for the benefit of Spanish readers. In each codex, some pictures mimicked the spoken word (logograms), whilst others showed ideas (pictograms and ideograms). Here (pic 2) is an example of a toponym, a picture that describes a place. This is the toponym for the Aztec town of Huitzilopochco. If you were an Aztec you would read the picture as a hummingbird on a blue background. The colour blue is synonymous with the sun and, therefore, the sun god Huitzilopochtli, whose name was Left Hand Hummingbird. People who could read this sign would identify the humming bird and the blue background with Huiztilopochtli.

Pic 2: The toponym for Huitzilopochco. Codex Mendoza, fol. 20

Who made codices?
The people who painted codices were called tlacuilos, which we loosely translate as ‘scribes’. They were men and women who were well educated and specially trained, often members of the Aztec nobility. Not everyone could read codices, so those who knew how to paint and interpret them had the unique advantage of being able to tell other people what they were about. The books were ‘mnemonic’, which means that the pictures they contained served as prompts or key reminders of lists, songs, stories, religious rituals and myths that were not written down but formed part of Aztec oral history. The Aztecs would tell these stories while they displayed the codices at religious ceremonies or formal occasions.

Pic 4: Pre-Hispanic scribes prepare natural colourings... (detail from a mural by Diego Rivera, National Palace)

Colonial codices
There are around 500 codices that were made after the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1521. You might ask why these books have survived if the Spanish were so eager to destroy them just a few years before! There are many answers to this question. One of them is that Spanish friars, in charge of converting indigenous communities to Catholicism, were eager to better understand indigenous cultures in order to make religious education easier. Therefore, they asked people to write their histories and customs. Additionally, native leaders needed to show proof of their lands and ancestry so that they could be claimed and recognised by the colonial authorities. This led to many maps and family trees being produced.

Pic 6: Page 9 of the (colonial period) Codex Xolotl; figures are joined together by lines which place them in a family tree. This makes their relationships and family ties easy to see

Go and visit a codex!
Did you know that some of the most incredible pre-Hispanic and colonial codices can be found in British museums? On display in Gallery 27 of the British Museum is a facsimile (a faithful replica) of the Codex Zouche-Nuttall, a pre-Hispanic historical document painted by the Mixtecs, who lived in present day Oaxaca in Mexico.

Pic 8: The Codex Zouche-Nuttall at the British Museum displayed in its original screen-fold presentation