The Maya hieroglyphs were a mystery to scholars until less than fifty years ago when tentative meanings and sounds began to be deciphered. This second volume of the catalogue of the hieroglyphs covers the three codices found in Europe that were apparently sent there soon after the Spanish conquest. Macri (California Indian studies, University of California, Davis) and Vail (social sciences, New College of Florida) have reproduced each individual glyph along with suppositions about its meaning and pronunciation along with references to earlier discussions of the glyph. They are arranged by form: birds, animals, body parts, gods, geometric shapes etc. An introduction gives the history of the codices, as much as is known, along with the steps to decipherment. Oversize 8.5 x 11.5 " Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)