Popol Vuh

Popul Vuh by Delia Goetz and Sylvanus G. Morley From the Translation of Adrian Recinos The Sacred Book of the Ancient Quiche Maya "During the middle of the sixteenth century a literate Quiche Indian transcribed his folk legends into Latin script in his own language. Late in the seventeenth century, Father Francisco Ximenez, parish priest of Santo Tomas Chichicastenango, copied and translated the now lost manuscript. This is the first complete English translation, taken from the Spanish version of the Guatemalan diplomat, liguist, and ethnologist, Adrian Recinos. . . . Its account of their cosmogony, mythology, traditions, and history will prove intensely interesting to students of anthropology, folklore, theology, and history." -- American Sociological Review. "Popol Vuh, meaning Book of Community, is a mixed record of the cosmic beliefs, folklore, semi-historical migrations and genealogies of the Quiche Indians, one of the Maya tribes that lives in the highlands of Guatemala. . . . The book is well worth reading. Here is a narrative of bold mythological adventures combined with the facts of recorded history; a picture of a world mentally and emotionally remote from our own." --New York Herald Tribune Adrian Recinos -- who made a new Spanish translation from the original Ximenez manuscripts in Quiche after he had discovered differences, omissions, and changes in the text published by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1861 -- was a distinguished diplomat as well as linguist, archaeologist, and ethnologist. For sixteen years (1928 - 44) minister and ambassador to the United States from his native Guatemala, he received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from George Washington University in 1942. Later he represented his country in the United Nations assembly and as ambassador to Spain. From Mr. Recinos' Spanish edition of the Popol Vuh, published in Mexico in 1947, Delia Goetz, author and translator, and the late Sylvanus G. Morley, authority on all things Mayan, undertook the preparation of this English Version.