General Aztecs Maya Tocuaro Kids Contact 19 Mar 2024/2 Death
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Old school book on the Aztecs

The oldest school book in English on the Aztecs?

Sifting through our resource centre recently, we came across this US school book on the Aztecs, over 40 years old, and wondered: which might have been the first, and what was it called? (Written/compiled by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore)

Contents page!
Contents page! (Click on image to enlarge)

‘Aztecs of Mexico: The Lost Civilization’ was written by Bradford Chambers and published by Grosset & Dunlap in New York in 1965. If anyone can flag up an older one, please let us know and we’ll feature it!

Cottie Burland’s 1961 book on the Aztecs for young people
Cottie Burland’s 1961 book on the Aztecs for young people (Click on image to enlarge)

Update 2010!
Steve Warner has kindly written in (Feb ‘10) to send us details of The Aztecs by C A Burland, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (Educational) Ltd., London in 1961. It was one of the ‘Young Enthusiast Library: Young Historian’ series. He adds:-

I traveled to Mexico with my parents in 1969 as a teenager and was fortunate enough to be able to see the exhibits at the National Museum of Anthropology, Teotihuacan, and Tula. I believe I purchased this book at the Museum -- there is a price marked inside of 25.50 that I assume equates to pesos. The back of the book also has a price of “9s 6d” that I expect you can decipher much better than I can! I’ve never lost my interest in the topic and I plan to be a regular visitor to your site! I have a number of other books on the Aztecs and related topics such as the Nahuatl language but I expect I will find them on your site...

Victor von Hagen’s 1958 book ‘The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Aztecs’
Victor von Hagen’s 1958 book ‘The Ancient Sun Kingdoms of the Aztecs’ (Click on image to enlarge)

Thank you very much indeed, Steve, for drawing this to our attention. Can anyone better this?! We doubt it. BTW, ‘9s 6d’ was old English currency (nine shillings and sixpence), the equivalent of just under 50p today!

Clearly, yes! Matthew McDavitt has beaten this (May 2010) with details of The Sun Kingdom of the Aztecs by Victor W. Von Hagen, published by the World Publishing Company, Cleveland in 1958! Cheers, Matthew. Going down...?

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