[1182] Icazbalceta, in his Apuntes para un Catálogo de Escritores en lenguas indigenas de America (Mexico, 1866), gives a summary of the native literature preserved to us. Cf. Brinton’s Aboriginal American Authors, p. 14, etc., on natives who acquired reputation as writers of Spanish.
[1183] Vol. i. p. lxxiv; and on p. lxxviii he gives accounts of various manuscripts, chiefly copies, owned by himself. He also traces the rise of his interest in American studies, while official position in later years gave him unusual facilities for research. His conclusions and arguments are often questioned by careful students. Cf. Bandelier, in Amer. Antiq. Soc. Proc., October, 1880, p. 93.
[1184] In the introduction to this volume Brasseur reviews the native writers on the Conquest. Bancroft (Mexico, vol. i. p. 493, vol. ii. p. 488) thinks he hardly does Cortés justice, and is prone to accept without discrimination the native accounts, to the discredit of those of the conquerors. Brasseur gives abundant references; and since the publication of the Pinart-Brasseur Catalogue, we have a compact enumeration of his own library.
[1185] He enumerates a few of the treasures, vol. i. p. lxxvi.
[1186] The list is not found in all copies. Murphy Catalogue, p. 300. F. S. Ellis (London, 1884) prices a copy at £2 2s.
[1187] Born at Puebla 1710; died 1780.
[1188] Published in three volumes in Mexico in 1836. Edited by C. F. Ortega. Cf. Prescott, Mexico, book i. chap. i. Veytia also edited from Boturini’s collection, and published with notes at Mexico in 1826, Tezcuco en los ultimos tiempos de sus antiguos reyes (Murphy Catalogue, no. 428).
[1189] Aboriginal American Authors, p. 26, where are notices of other manuscripts on Tlaxcalan history.
[1190] Cf. Nouvelles Annales des Voyages (1845), vol. ii. p. 129, etc.
[1191] Prescott, Mexico, vol. ii. p. 286; Bancroft, Mexico, vol. i. p. 200.