title: The Madrid Codex: New Approaches to Understanding an Ancient Maya Manuscript (Mesoamerican Worlds)
author: Gabrielle Vail
description: <DIV>"<I>The Madrid Codex</I> offers a new and nuanced understanding of one of the few surviving Maya hieroglyphic books, a porthole into the ancient Maya mind and a poignant reminder of how much was in a world now lost. [It is] a barrage of scholarship from leading scholars in everything from iconography to archaeoastronomy. . . . <I>The Madrid Codex</I>, on the basis of the impressive scholarship in every chapter of this book, now takes its place as a crucial document of this cultural ferment and fusion."<BR> - <I><B>Antiquity</I></B></DIV><br /><br /><DIV> "I cannot think of another interdisciplinary study in Mesoamerican cultures that has produced such innovative results." <BR> - <B>Dav&#237;d Carrasco</B>, Harvard University</DIV><br /><br /><DIV>"The exciting new approaches to interpreting the codices will make this a volume essential for those studying the Postclassic Maya." <BR> - <B>Susan Milbrath</B>, University of Florida</DIV>
zlib_text: * * *
  
  ### SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
  
  * * *
  
  ## NOTES
  
  ON CERTAIN
  
  # MAYA AND MEXICAN MANUSCRIPTS.
  
  BY
  
  ## PROF. CYRUS THOMAS.
  
  * * *
  
  ## CONTENTS.
  
  | Page.  
  ---|---  
  [Tableau des Bacab](text00000.html#Page_007) |  [7](text00000.html#Page_007)  
  [Plate 43 of the Borgian Codex](text00000.html#Page_023) |
  [23](text00000.html#Page_023)  
  [Plate 44 of the Fejervary Codex](text00000.html#Page_030) |
  [30](text00000.html#Page_030)  
  [Symbols of the cardinal points](text00000.html#Page_036) |
  [36](text00000.html#Page_036)  
  Plate |  [I.](text00000.html) | — | Fac-simile of the Tableau des Bacab |
  [7](text00000.html)  
  ---|---|---|---|---  
  |  [II.](text00000.html) | — | The Tableau des Bacab restored |
  [12](text00000.html)  
  |  [III.](text00000.html) | — | Fac-simile of Plate 44 of the Fejervary Codex
  |  [32](text00000.html)  
  |  [IV.](text00000.html) | — | Copy of Plates 65 and 66 of the Vatican Codex B
  |  [56](text00000.html)  
  Fig. |  [1.](text00000.html) | — | The four