The search for the Codex Cardona: on the trail of an sixteenth century mexican treasure

The Codex Cardona is a Mexican quot;painted book quot; which may date from the 16th century and has been assessed inconclusively by such places as Sotheby's, the Getty, and Stanford University. This book describes the author's quest to determine the ori In The Search for the Codex Cardona, Arnold J. Bauer tells the story of his experiences on the trail of a cultural treasure, a Mexican “painted book” that first came into public view at Sotheby’s auction house in London in 1982, nearly four hundred years after it was presumably made by Mexican artists and scribes. On folios of amate paper, the Codex includes two oversized maps and 300 painted illustrations accompanied by text in sixteenth-century paleography. The Codex relates the trajectory of the Nahua people to the founding of the capital of Tenochtitlán and then focuses on the consequences of the Spanish conquest up to the 1550s. If authentic, the Codex Cardona is an invaluable record of early Mexico. Yet there is no clear evidence of its origin, what happened to it after 1560, or even where it is today, after its last known appearance at Christie’s auction house in New York in 1998. Bauer first saw the Codex Cardona in 1985 in the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, where scholars from Stanford and the University of California were attempting to establish its authenticity. Allowed to gently lift a few pages of this ancient treasure, Bauer was hooked. By 1986, the Codex had again disappeared from public view. Bauer’s curiosity about the Codex and its whereabouts led him down many forking paths—from California to Seville and Mexico City, to the Firestone Library in Princeton, to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and Christie’s in New York—and it brought him in contact with an international cast of curators, agents, charlatans, and erudite book dealers. The Search for the Codex Cardona is a mystery that touches on issues of cultural patrimony, the workings of the rare books and manuscripts trade, the uncertainty of archives and evidence, and the ephemerality of the past and its remains.

The Codex Cardona is a Mexican "painted book" which may date from the 16th century and has been assessed inconclusively by such places as Sotheby's, the Getty, and Stanford University. This book describes the author's quest to determine the ori

Library Journal

A chance invitation to view a rare book said to have been produced in early Mexico led Bauer (history, emeritus, Univ. of California, Davis) to a quarter-century investigation into the origin and ownership of the Codex Cardona. This ancient book, filled with lavish decorations akin to a Book of Hours and including maps with tax data like the Domesday Book, was written in Mexico around the mid-16th century. As in the best suspense novels, Bauer begins in the middle of the action. Obsessed with tracing the provenance and present location of this historical volume, he follows clues into the murky world of international antiquities dealers and prestigious auction houses. His intriguingly conspiratorial tone enables the reader to be privy to his search for the answers to the scholarly riddles. VERDICT For readers who wish to learn about early contact-era Mexican painted manuscripts and how scholarly inquiry is conducted, this work has much to offer. It should also find a readership with those who like mystery mixed with their history and with readers who enjoy narratives on the search for lost rarities, such as Miles Harvey's The Island of Lost Maps.—Brian Renvall, Mesalands Community Coll., Tucumcari, NM

The Crocker lab A world of painted books Early doubts Sotheby's of London The Getty Sloan ranger Nights in the gardens of Coyoacan A mysterious affidavit Seville Christie's of New York El Palacio del Marques Libreria Zocalo An internet posting The architect's studio Pasaje de las Flores The high end Ibiza A Madrid anticuario. "The Search for the Codex Cardona is the story of Arnold J. Bauer's experiences on the trail of a cultural treasure, a Mexican 'painted book' that first came into public view at Sotheby's auction house in London in 1982, nearly four hundred years after it was presumably made by Mexican artists and scribes."--Back cover Tells the story of the author's experiences on the trail of a cultural treasure, a Mexican 'painted book' that first came into public view at Sotheby's auction house in London in 1982, nearly four hundred years after it was presumably made by Mexican artists and scribes.