Notes and drafts on Chilam Balam books, ca. 1868-1871

Contributor:

Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899 (former owner)

Name:

Berendt, C. Hermann 1817-1878

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1868

Description:

Miscellaneous notes and drafts in the hand of C. Hermann Berendt related to his study of books of Chilam Balam, including a substantial (24-page) draft of a preface and table of contents with a title page reading: Chilam Balam: articulos y fragmentos de MSS [i.e. manuscritos] antiguos en lengua maya, colectados por C. H. Berendt, M.D., Merida, 1868. The draft is probably closely related to two other manuscripts in the present collection with a similar title and containing facsimiles of excerpts from books of Chilam Balam; see Ms. Coll. 700, Item 49 and Item 50. The draft table of contents appears to correspond to the organization of Item 49; and the draft preface, which contains many mentions of Juan Pío Pérez, may be pertinent to Item 50. The remaining material comprises loose notes. Several longer sets of notes (one or two pages) list or detail various books of Chilam Balam, including notes referring to Father Zuniga (book of Mani, 1697), to Balthasar Ferrais of Mérida (book of Kaua, 1789), and to Juan Josef Hoil (book of Chumayel, 1782); notes pertaining to a manuscript of Pío Pérez entitled Apuntaciones sobre el calendario maya; and a two-page comparative chart with headings for the books of Chumayel, Kaua, Mani and Tizimin. Other generally briefer and less decipherable notes contain references to the Chilam Balam books of Kaua and Tizimin; and various calendrical information, in one instance pertaining to the years 1840 to 1844, in others related to the localities Huistan (Tzotzil) and Chiapaneca. One leaf has at the top a sentence in a Mayan language containing the name of Jose Sabino Uc, Berendt's adopted son, with wording very similar to the first line of the boy's known autobiographical statement (see Ms. Coll. 700, Item 190), including mention of the year 1871; on the same page are calendrical notations referring to the 15th to 18th centuries, and on the verso, other notes in Spanish about Chilam Balam books generally. One small note refers to the Baile de Cortes, Cobán (see Ms. Coll. 700 Item 56). Several notes contain material copied from Diego López Cogolludo's Historia de Yucatán, or from Diego de Landa's Relación de las cosas de Yucatán. One of the notes related to Cogolludo is signed by Berendt and dated Mérida, 1868. Also included are 5 drawings (4 leaves): two calendrical diagrams attributed to Landa (one is a chart of 20 boxes with symbols, the other a wheel; the latter appears in Ms. Coll. 700, Item 49, p. 26); another calendar wheel labeled: after Pio Perez; an elaborate drawing from Cogolludo (perhaps a tracing) labeled Libro Tercero, Cap. VI (tree on a pedestal encircled by 13 weeping faces); and a pencilled sketch labelled as the watermark of the paper of the Chumayel Chilam Balam of 1789.

Language:

Spanish; Castilian

Provenance:

From the collection of C. Hermann Berendt, later acquired by Daniel Garrison Brinton (ex libris stamp on some items contained in the same file, entitled Mapas etnológicos; no ex libris stamp on the present papers).

Subject:

Maya calendar; Maya language -- Texts -- Early works to 1800; Mayas -- History; Mayas; History; Indians of Mexico -- Languages -- Early works to 1800; Language and languages; Indians of Mexico -- Languages; Maya language

Form/Genre:

Drawings (visual works); Diagrams; Manuscripts, Spanish; Manuscripts, Latin American; Texts

Physical Description:

2 folders (56 leaves)

Geographic Subject:

Mexico -- Languages -- Early works to 1800; Mexico

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Item 248 is one of 7 items (Items 242-248), on disparate topics related to the Indians of Central America, that were contained in a cardboard portfolio labelled: Mapas etnológicos.; Predominantly in Spanish, with some words, phrases and occasional passages in Maya or various Mayan languages.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Coll. 700

Collection:

Mapas etnológicos; Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection