Manuscrit Troano. Etudes sur le système graphique et la langue des Mayas

First edition of this work published "by order of His Majesty the Emperor and under the supervision of the Minister of Public Instruction" (cf. Leclerc (1878) 2283).

The first volume is illustrated with 70 colour-printed plates, all hors-texte.

Contemporary half red shagreen bindings, spine with four raised bands adorned with double gilt fillets and floral gilt tooling, gilt decorative rolls at head and foot, some rubbing, cloth boards with blind-stamped borders and central device, bindings of the period.

Some rubbing to boards, water stains to the upper corners affecting the first 10 leaves of both volumes, one quire in the first volume becoming loose, boards slightly discoloured or soiled along right margins, two corners lightly bumped.

Charles Étienne Brasseur, known as Brasseur de Bourbourg (1814–1874), a French missionary in Mexico and Central America, is regarded as one of the pioneers of pre-Columbian archaeology and history. Deeply engaged in the study of indigenous languages, he announced in 1863 that he had discovered the key to transcribing the Mayan script. He later presented his principles of decipherment in the present work on the Troano Manuscript.

Volume I contains an exposition of the Mayan graphic system, for which 600 characters were specially cast at the Imprimerie Impériale. It is followed by a facsimile of the Troano Manuscript reproduced in 70 lithochrome plates. Volume II features the grammar, chrestomathy, and a Maya–French–Spanish vocabulary.

Very scarce.