THOMAS.] HISTORY OF THE DRESDEN CODEX. 263 



luauuscript on pp. 2uG, 267. When lie began his work he knew notli- 

 ing as yet of the existence of the manuscript. It was brought to his 

 knowledge by Bottiger, whose above named work he cites. Here we 

 learn for the first time that the mati'fial of the manuscript consists 

 of the plant metl (Agave Mr.ricinniJ like other manuscripts that 

 Humboldt had brought from Now Spain. Furthermore, he correctly 

 states the length of leaf as 0.395 and the breadth 0.085 meter. On 

 the other hand, he commits two mistakes in saying that there ai-e 40 

 leaves and that the whole folded table foi-ming the codex has a length 

 of almost 6 meters, for there are only 39 leaves and tlic linntli in 

 ciuestion is only .3.5 meters, as calculation will apiwoximatily sIkjw, 

 because the leaves are written on both sides. Humboldt's othei' re- 

 marks do not immediately concern our problem. 



" In 1823 Fr. Ad. Ebert, then secretary and later head lilirarian, 

 published his History and Description of the Royal Public Library 

 at Dresden. Here we find, as well in the history (p. 66) as in the de- 

 scription (p. 161), some data concerning this 'tx'easure of highest 

 vahie,' which indeed contain nothing new, but which certainly con- 

 tributed to spread the knowledge of the subject among wider circles. 

 We may remark right here that H. L. Fleischer, in his Catalogue of 

 Oriental Manuscript Codices in the Royal Library of Dresden, p. 75, 

 Leipzig, 1831, 4°, makes but brief mention of our codex, as ' a Mex- 

 ican book of wood, illustrated with pictures, which awaits its CEdi- 

 pus;' whereupon he cites the writing of Bottiger. The signature of 

 the manuscript here noted, E 451, is the one still in use. 



"Between the above mentioned notices by Ebert and Fleischer falls 

 the first and so far the only complete reproduction of the manuscript. 

 Probably in 1826, there appeared at Dresden the Italian August ino 

 Aglio, a master of the art of making fac similes by means of tracing 

 through transparent substances. He visited the European libraries, 

 very probably even at that time under orders from Lord Kingsborough, 

 to copy scattered manuscripts and pictures from Mexico or seemingly 

 from Mexico. 



" Now there arises the question, all important for interpretation, 

 In which shape did the manuscript lie before Aglio ? Was it a strip 

 only 3.5 meters in length or did it consist of several pieces ? 



" To iTiiili'i- clear the answer which we proceed to give, it is first 

 necessary in icin.irk that of the 39 leaves of the codex 35 are written 

 on both sides and 4 on one side only, so that we can speak only of 

 74 pages of manuscript, not of 78. These 74 pages we shall in the 

 following always designate by the numbers which they bear in Lord 

 Kingsborough, and it is advisable tu abide by these numbers, for the 

 sake of avoiding all error, until the iiiaimsiii|it e^iii be read with per- 

 fect certainty; the 4 empty pages I shall designate withO when there 

 is need of mentioning them expressly. 



" Furthermore it is necessary to state which of these pages so num- 



