MAYA ART AND CIVILIZATION: An Illustrated Excursion Into Pre~Columbian America. Revised And Enlarged With Added Illustrations. Part I ~ A Study Of Maya Art / Part II~The Nuclear Civilization Of The Maya And Related Cultures.

tall marbled brown, black & decorative gilt 1/2 cloth (gilt maya figure on cover) hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean but a little age darkened. old tape marks inside front & rear covers, page 31 has old piece of tape at bottom (small tear), one tiny margin tick, otherwise contents free of markings. (dustwrapper was in old protective sleeve that was taped down). dustwrapper in vg cond. chipped along top edge, missing 1" piece, spine sunfaded a bit, not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings or store stamps, no stickers or bookplates, no names, no inking , no underlining, no remainder markings etc ~. first printing (nap). of the revised edition. full color frontis. decorative title pg. xliii+432p. new and important additions to the text and illustrations, four~color frontispiece, 80 half~tone plates, three maps, 2 large foldout tables. and hundreds of in~text figures. bibliographies. index part I. index part II. art history. archaeology ancient history. prehistory. archaeoastronomy. history of astronomy. religion. mythology cosmology. folklore. ~ When Cortes landed in Central America for his epoch~making conquest, the civilization of the Maya was already in a state of progressive decay. The rich empire after the fateful year 1519 fell into the invader's lap like an over~ripe plum. Yet it took the W estern World almost 400 years to discover that on the threshold of the North American continent were the remains of two cultures in many ways the equals of ancient Greece and Rome. Modern anthropology inherited Cortes' unwitting bequest to explore the fabulous and ancient cultural heritage left by the Maya and other ancient Amerindian peoples of Mexico and Central America~and no modern anthropologist has done more to explore this rich estate than Herbert Joseph Spinden in a record of some 60 years of continuous work, much in the field. It is not for nothing that the author was president of the famous Explorers Club (Thor Heyerdahl and Lowell Thomas are but two of its sons) longer than any other president in the Club's history. Dr. Spinden, in the first edition (1913) of his "Study of Maya Art," was the first scholar to devote himself to a thorough study of the ancient art of Central America as shown by the architecture, the sculptured monuments and other objects found in the magnificent ruins of the ancient Maya people. From this eloquent evidence of a grandiose past, Dr. Spinden has pieced together a picture of one of the most remarkable civilizations of all time~a civilization that far outstripped the contemporaneous Western World in its astronomical calculations and in a calendar more accurate than the one in use today. In the first part of this volume, Dr. Spinden presents the most exhaustive study of Maya art ever undertaken. With perceptive insight, he explores the representations of the human form found in Maya sculpture, the ever~recurrent symbol of the Serpent in Maya art, the divinities depicted so vividly in the monuments, and the architecture of this amazing people. Taking his cue from the dynamic elements found in Maya art, Dr. Spinden also works out a chronological sequence proven to vie even with the accuracy of radio~carbon dating. The reader will discover deep delvings into the religious representations and symbols found in Maya art, as well as a magnificent reconstruction: a picture of a culture throbbing with life and vitality. The influence of a national religion upon a national art was never more evident than in the case of the Maya. All their great monuments were connected with religious practices and no minor object was too humble not to have bestowed on it decorative art with religious significance. This art, expressed in sculpture, bas~relief, painting and architecture, and in appropriate company with the greatest art of Egypt, Babylonia and Greece, is brought to life in this volume in hundre. …