Scope and Contents

Reproductions of representative pages of an artist book by Katz. -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.

Scope and Contents Reproductions of representative pages of an artist book by Katz. Burnt Book is dedicated to the memory of the uncountable codices burned by Friar Diego de Landa, in Mani, Yucatán in June 1562, as part of a series of autos-da-fé carried out under his orders. In Account of the Affairs of Yucatán, a document written in part as a brief to defend himself before the Council of Indies, de Landa recounts: "These people [the Maya] also used certain glyphs or letters in which they wrote down their ancient history and sciences in their books; and by means of these letters and figures and by certain marks contained in them, they could read about their affairs and taught others to read about them too. We found a great number of these books in Indian characters and because they contained nothing but superstition and the Devil's falsehoods, we burned them all; and this they felt most bitterly and it caused them great grief." Burnt Book, made five hundred years after the first voyage of Columbus...

Scope and Contents

The book is dedicated to "the memory of the uncountable codices burned by Friar Diego de Landa, in Mani, Yucatan in June 1562, as a part of a series of autos-da-fe carried out under his orders." -- Source of annotation: Marvin or Ruth Sackner.