3 ms·

Highly recommended: Aztec codices, especially the ones with pictures. Looks like modern psychedelic art of some kind but is in fact made centuries ago, sometime

by stinos 12y ago

Highly recommended: Aztec codices, especially the ones with pictures. Looks like modern psychedelic art of some kind but is in fact made centuries ago, sometimes by their priests. For the rest: it's amazing to see how back then simply writing was way more of an art than it is now. It's no exception that the writer would use 2 or more colors even for simple text, for example just to highlight capitals. Don't think I have ever seen anyone doing that in the present. Also the maps from those days often look like sceneries from some fairytale with nicely drawn castles etc. Not like your average roadmap :P

K2h 12y ago
That was the first ones I went looking for. very cool. http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec
rmc 12y ago
Related: When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Americas, they burned just about all the Mayan books be a use they were "heretical": > 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." No wonder those people "regretted" it, it was newly all of their written culture being destroyed. Imagine if some aliens invaded Europe and burned all these books and all that was left was 3 books.
- walterbell 12y ago
  European "heretics" had the benefit of more practice in book hiding.
- alphydan 12y ago
  Unfortunately only 3 of these Mayan codices have survived (imagine inferring 1,000 years of Western civilization from a comic book, an almanac and a prayer book). Here are some of the codices which contain very accurate astronomical forecasts on Venus, Mars, eclipses and the sun: http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html or also: https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collections_Of_CODICES https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collectio...
acdha 12y ago
If you haven't previously seen them before, the World Digital Library has a number of Aztec manuscripts to view: http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?item_type=manuscript&additional_subjects=Aztecs http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?item_type=manuscript&additiona... > For the rest: it's amazing to see how back then simply writing was way more of an art than it is now It's a really interesting trade-off – books used to be rare luxury status symbols and then the number skyrocketed as machine printing became an industrial-scale process. I do sometimes wonder if we're going to see a slight reversal of that with people paying for art prints as a way to get something which you simply can't have on a tablet.
- walterbell 12y ago
  A large coffee-table book (e.g. 16x24 when opened) beats a tablet or monitor any day. Maybe they'll make a comeback, given all the newly scanned material. Small publishers could crowdfund limited editions for niche audiences.

by stinos 12y ago

K2h 12y ago

That was the first ones I went looking for. very cool. http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/search/collection/Aztec

rmc 12y ago

Related: When the Spanish invaded and conquered the Americas, they burned just about all the Mayan books be a use they were "heretical": > 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." No wonder those people "regretted" it, it was newly all of their written culture being destroyed. Imagine if some aliens invaded Europe and burned all these books and all that was left was 3 books.

walterbell 12y ago
European "heretics" had the benefit of more practice in book hiding.
alphydan 12y ago
Unfortunately only 3 of these Mayan codices have survived (imagine inferring 1,000 years of Western civilization from a comic book, an almanac and a prayer book). Here are some of the codices which contain very accurate astronomical forecasts on Venus, Mars, eclipses and the sun: http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/codices/marhenke.html or also: https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collections_Of_CODICES https://archive.org/details/Ancient-Books-All-Rare-Collectio...

acdha 12y ago

If you haven't previously seen them before, the World Digital Library has a number of Aztec manuscripts to view: http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?item_type=manuscript&additional_subjects=Aztecs http://www.wdl.org/en/search/?item_type=manuscript&additiona... > For the rest: it's amazing to see how back then simply writing was way more of an art than it is now It's a really interesting trade-off – books used to be rare luxury status symbols and then the number skyrocketed as machine printing became an industrial-scale process. I do sometimes wonder if we're going to see a slight reversal of that with people paying for art prints as a way to get something which you simply can't have on a tablet.

walterbell 12y ago
A large coffee-table book (e.g. 16x24 when opened) beats a tablet or monitor any day. Maybe they'll make a comeback, given all the newly scanned material. Small publishers could crowdfund limited editions for niche audiences.