The Codex Nuttall: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient Mexico

by Zelia Nuttall (Editor), Arthur G. Miller (Introduction)

The Peabody Museum facsimile edited by Zelia Nuttall
With new introductory text by Arthur G. Miller

The only value-priced, full-color edition of the pre-Columbian Mexican (Mixtec) book. Features 88 color plates of kings, gods, heroes, temples, sacrifices, and more. New introduction.

Genres: History, Reference, Art

84 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1975

Reviews

[The Esoteric Jungle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent days pouring over this work in my youth and again about 7 years ago. What does it mean? I finally realized the lines going in different directions with different dots in them highlighted at distinct points stand for times that particular race shown in the glyph of such will have an upswing or downswing or change in progression and go through this or that incident depicted around that figurine (a vat with disease in it or a bird soaring upward and so on).

It is basically a book on the astrological fate of each race’s progression in natural reality for the next however many hundreds or perhaps even tens of thousands of years.

I knew no one possibly would believe me were I to say this aloud, such sense and perhaps revelation, and then lo and behold last year I came across, it was either Lady Hahn or one of her main students writings, saying this is exactly what the Codex Nutall depicts!

My wife and I were talking recently how no one ever believes anything anyone else ever says is “true” unless they hear that thing from three separate unrelated sources. Then they believe it.

May sociopaths never learn this secret about human beings cause then they could trialectically suggest things to them to hypnotize them into believing anything, maybe actually this is related to how hypnotism works.

In any case I now believe this is what this book is about, just having it confirmed from two sources: my own mind and Judge or Leadbetter or Hahn who said it too.

I would love to have it confirmed from someone else as a third source too though if they ever get a chance to look.

It may even tell a thing or two about race history in America today..from my other reviews you’ll know I believe, ethnos, septs, were once much more distinct like a living organism, like a human being as one. But we’re probably all in a bouncing together before amalgamation point into one in the next 500 years so all that is now almost unimaginable and on the fade. My point is, once it was very real and may yet be for a little longer.

Anyway, peruse this if you get a chance, very interesting book.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good but rather frustrating introduction to the first-published (1902 facsimile) and best-studied Mexican preconquest codex.. The facsimile is good quality, but is presented completely un-annotated. You need to read the introductory matter to make any sense of the thing. It's basically a genealogy of the kings of a small city-state in southern (Mixtec) Mexico in the 11th & 12th centuries, especially the exploits of the great hero-warrior Lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (1063 - 1115). The book itself probably dates to the 14th century, and is in the British Museum. The Dover book is a copy of the 1902 facsimile made by Harvard's Peabody Museum, with a "new" introduction written in 1975. Good old Dover!

Here are some Wikipedia pages that might be helpful:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Z...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_D...

[Rusty del Norte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Codex Nuttall is a facsimile book of the ancient Mixtec codex from around the 14th century with the same name. It covers the life of a ruler from the 12th century CE/AD by the name of "8 Deer Tiger Claw". The majority of it is simply this reproduced work without any translation. This leaves the viewer to simply gaze at the images - using repeated motifs of a man either kneeling or sitting, until the end where he is obviously deceased. It uses a lot of red, yellow, & black hues. It also features a lesser amount of turquoise blue, green, & even unpainted images.

The codex is not one of tradition left-right, separate pages like you see from Europe, but Boustrophedon - right to left, then left right. It is a folded out piece of deerskin with multiple rectangular sections. It is a piece of 'conceptual art' in the form of pictographs that could be 'read' by a ancient Mixtec reader. If one is vaguely familiar with Mayan pictographs, then this will seem slightly similar.

Most of the information on the history of this codex and similar Mixtec ones is in the introduction. It gives a history & some background information on this particular piece. It is informative enough to appreciate how important this piece of history is.

Overall, I wish this was a translation. But, I will look elsewhere for that. Worth a look if you are into this field of study.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to read this at Archive.org. It is so sad that so few of these ancient Mexican codices survive. This one has a fascinating introduction much about interpreting the content. I wish the relevant points where intersperse with the pages.

[Sarita · Rating 5 out of 5]

a description of wars.

[Dustincecil · Rating 3 out of 5]

not as interesting, in my opinion as the codex borgia, but still pretty good.