You may actually be referring to Mayan books instead: There were many such books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán in the 16th centur

You may actually be referring to Mayan books instead: There were many such books in existence at the time of the Spanish conquest of Yucatán in the 16th century, but they were destroyed in bulk by the Conquistadors and priests soon after. In particular, all those in Yucatán were ordered destroyed by Bishop Diego de Landa in July of 1562. De Landa wrote: "We found a large number of books in these characters and, as they contained nothing in which were not to be seen as superstition and lies of the devil, we burned them all, which they (the Maya) regretted to an amazing degree, and which caused them much affliction." Such codices were primary written records of Maya civilization, together with the many inscriptions on stone monuments and stelae that survived. [1] As for the Aztecs, interestingly, many of their books were burned prior to the Spanish invasion: Two of the primary architects of the Aztec empire were the half-brothers Tlacaelel and Montezuma I, nephews of Itzcoatl. Moctezuma I succeeded Itzcoatl as Hueyi Tlatoani in 1440. Although he was also offered the opportunity to be tlatoani, Tlacaelel preferred to operate as the power behind the throne. Tlacaelel reformed the Aztec state and religion. According to some sources, he ordered the burning of most of the extant Aztec books claiming that they contained lies. He thereupon rewrote the history of the Aztec people, thus creating a common awareness of history for the Aztecs. [2] In any case, there are more than 3 Aztec codices in existence now. [3] [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices#Background http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices#Background [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Rise_of_the_Triple_Alliance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Rise_of_the_Triple_Allian... [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_codices http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_codices