Details

Subject(s)

• Materia medica, Vegetable—Mexico—Yucatan—19th century [Browse]
• Medicinal plants—Mexico—Yucatan—19th century [Browse]
• Mayas—Medicine [Browse]
• Indigenous Studies [Browse]

Donor

Garrett, Robert, 1875-1961 [Browse]

Former owner

• Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872 [Browse]
• Gates, William, 1863-1940 [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• Paper [Browse]
• manuscripts (documents) [Browse]

Contained in

• Robert Garrett collection, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s.

Compiled/​Created

[1820?].

Linking notes

Forms part of the Robert Garrett Collection (C0744).

Summary note

Contains botanical drawings with Mayan names on the recto of each leaf and descriptions of uses in Spanish on the verso. The description indicates the medical uses of each plant (use of the root to keep snakes away, etc.) and includes other data about the plant, such as aesthetic qualities, growth period, and classification. Written by a Franciscan friar of Campeche. The original ms. had at least 123 folios with herbal remedies described in alphabetical order. The manuscript was later rebound, probably in 1859, with 22 leaves extant (f. 81-84, 100-101, 107, 109, 112-114, 119-120, 123, and 3 leaves unidentified) and bound out of order.

Notes

• "Obsequio que me hizo el Lic. D. Rodulfo Canton de Merida en Vemery, Diciembre 1859"--Written in pen on cover.
• "Mex. B. 9," written in pencil; oval label with "9" written in pen; circular label with "301" written in pen; rectangular label with "21239" printed; and "56" written and circled in ink, all on cover.
• Decoration: full-page drawings (in pencil (some in red and green pencil) and watercolor) of plants on verso of each leaf.

Binding note

Sewn sheets laid inside modern cardboard covers; in cloth box.

Language note

Text in Spanish and Yucatec with some Latin.

Provenance

The original manuscript was written by a Franciscan friar of Campeche about the beginning of the 19th century; was presented to Dr. Berendt by a Yucatecan friend, in Veracruz in 1859; previously owned by Sir Thomas Phillipps (Ms. 21239); later acquired by William Gates; sold to Robert Garrett (purchased from William Gates in 1930); deposited by Garrett at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton in 1942; removed from the Institute in 1949, at Garrett's request, and donated to the Princeton University Library.

Source acquisition

Gift; Robert Garrett; 1949.

Publications about

Maya Grammar with bibliography and appraisement of the works noted / A.M. Tozzer. Cambridge : The Museum, 1921, p. 195-196.

Cite as

Garrett-Gates Mesoamerican Manuscripts, no. 9, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Other format(s)

Published translation and facsimile: Apuntes sobre algunas plantas medicinales de Yucatán / translated and edited by Elizabeth C. Stewart. Baltimore : The Maya Society, 1935.

Place name(s)

Mexico Campeche.

Other title(s)

Notes on some of the Medicinal Plants of Yucatan

In

Robert Garrett Collection, ca. 1340 B.C.-1900s

OCLC

177441012

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