Cruz, M. de la [J. Badianus transl.; E. W. Emmart, ed.]
The Badianus Manuscript (Codex Barberine, Latin 241) Vatican library. An Aztec herbal of 1552. Introduction, translation and annotations by Emily Walcott Emmart.
Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins Press, 1940. Large 4to (30.3 x 23.6 cm). xxiv, 341 pp., 118 mostly dull colour plates of the entire manuscript and six indexes and bibliography. Original cloth with original dustwrappers (repaired).
First and as far as we know only edition of this illustrated Aztec herbal discovered in the Vatican Library in 1931. It is the only medical text known to be the work of Aztec Indians and was originally written by an Aztec physician known as Martin de la Cruz and then translated into Latin by Juan Badia, or "Badianus", around the time of the Spanish conquest of Middle America. The 184 brilliantly coloured figures of native plants and trees are perhaps the earliest American botanical illustrations. The charm and the great importance of this Badianus manuscript lies in the fact that it is a purely Mexican product and, as far as we can see, it shows no traces of European influences. This Aztec Materia Medica might have been made in the 15th or 16th century, see the foreword by H. Sigerist. The spine of the original dust jacket discoloured, and somewhat frayed and chipped at the edges; the book itself unmarked, in near mint condition.