What is the Nican Mopohua?

Among the many treasures of the New York Public Library, there is a set of documents known as, “Guadalupian Monuments”. Among those, there is the Nican Mopohua, composed of four bifolios (sixteen pages) written in the Nahuatl language “lingua franca” in Mesoamerica.

Its importance lies in being the oldest document that narrates the Guadalupian miracle, which occurred on the Tepeyac hill, north of present-day Mexico City, around 1531.

What is the facsimile?
A facsimile is an identical replica or reproduction of an original document.

Between the 12th-13th centuries, theologians and scholars wrote books called bestiaries all about real and imaginary animals.

Bestiaries were texts with illuminated, or hand painted and drawn, pictures. These bestiaries were similar to today’s fairy tales with a Christian spin. Authors used animals in an allegorical way to convey meaning.

The Nican Mopohua, “Here it is narrated, here it is told” in the Nahuatl language, relates to the appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the devout Cuautitlán Indian, baptized as Juan Diego, around 1531.

1. MUSEUM/COLLECTING

Includes:

1. Nican Mopohua Facsimile
2. Study Guide: semi-artesanal
3. New Nican Mopohua Manuscript: semi-artisanal
4. Reproduction of the Guadalupano necklace
5. Sample of materials
6. ICZOTL: sample of hand woven tilma
7. Deluxe folding case
Limited edition, numbered and notarized

2. FAMILY TREASURE

Includes:

1. Facsimile Nican Mopohua
2. Study Guide
3. New Nican Mopohua Manuscript
4. Handmade parchment binding.
4. Reproduction of the Guadalupano necklace

3. GUADALUPAN TREASURE

Includes:

1. Facsimile Nican Mopohua
2. Study Guide
3. Reproduction of the Guadalupano necklace

4. STANDARD EDITION

Includes:

1.Facsimile Nican Mopohua
2. Brief Study Guide

A MONUMENTAL PUBLISHING WORK
(With the collaboration of 50 academics and 15 artists and artisans)

A JEWEL to pass from
generation to generation

Reproduced with such perfection that it is practically a clone of the original manuscript.

Genovese papermaking in a 200-year-old mill.

Paper just out of the casting where the Genoese filigree, and the corondels and stippling (horizontal and vertical marks on the stretcher) can be seen.

Drawing 200 illustrations

Modeling and casting of the medallion in bronze

Fine goldsmith work for corner pieces and fasteners

In order to pay homage to the first book printed with the Nican Mopohua, the Huei Tlamahuiçoltica (The Great Event) by Luis Laso de la Vega, we have developed a typeface identical to the one used for that publication in 1649.

Capture of the Huei Tlamahuiçoltica by Luis Laso de la Vega published in 1649.

While the FACSIMIL is made with Genovese handmade paper, with the same characteristics and materials of more than 400 years ago, the STUDY GUIDE is printed on STONE PAPER, 21st century technology, made with limestone, crushed and mixed with ecological resins.

NOTE: Is it not a beautiful analogy to think that, although the Ten Commandments were carved in stone, this Study Guide, which deals with the law of love of the Mother of God, is now “carved” in PAPER of STONE?

Stone paper:
– Does not contain cellulose
– No trees are cut down
– Saves a large amount of water
– It is waterproof
– Saves energy
– Does not contain polluting chemicals
– It is highly ecological

Made by Mexican artisans

A piece of “cloth” made from Iczotl, a wild palm fiber, (perhaps the same kind of canvas used to make Juan Diego’s ayate).

2. Study Guide, with the Nican Mopohua transliterated and translated into Spanish.

3. New Nican Mopohua Manuscript

4. Reproduction of the Guadalupano necklace

2. Study Guide, with the Nican Mopohua

transliterated and translated into Spanish.

Includes:

1. Facsimile of the Nican Mopohua
2. Study Guide, with the Nican Mopohua transliterated and translated into Spanish.
3. Reproduction of the Guadalupan necklace

1. Nican Mopohua facsimile

2. Brief Study Guide with the Nican Mopohua

transliterated and translated into Spanish.

Among the many treasures of the New York Public Library is a set of documents known as “Guadalupan Monuments”, one in particular: the Nican Mopohua, composed of four bifolios (16 pages) and written in the Nahuatl language, the “lingua franca” in Mesoamerica.

Its importance lies in the fact that it is the oldest copy that narrates THE GREAT GUADALUPAN EVENT, which took place on the hill of Tepeyac, north of present-day Mexico City, in 1531.

This document is treasured at the New York Public Library.

Myrian de Arteni, Senior Curator of Exhibitions at the New York Public Library, with Ramon Abajo, president of The Vellum Page, examining the Nican Mopohua.

The oldest copy of the Nican Mopohua, preserved in the New York Public Library. An earlier manuscript is considered to have been written by D. Antonio Valeriano.

The Inin Huei tlamahuiçoltica
containing the Nican Mopohua,
published by Luis Laso de la Vega

Who wrote the Nican Mopohua?

Luis Lasso de la Vega, chaplain of the sanctuary, publishes the “Inin Huei tlamahuiçoltica omonexiti in ilhuicac tlatocaçihuapilli Santa Maria totlaçonantzin Guadalupe in Nican huei altepenahuac Mexico itocayocan Tepeyacac” (The great event with which the Lady Queen of heaven appeared to her Santa Maria, our beloved Mother of Guadalupe, here near Mexico City, in the place named Tepeyácac), the text in Nahuatl in which the “Great portent” of the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Indian Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the Cerro del Tepeyac in the year 1531 is narrated.

This book is actually the union of two writings, namely, the Nican Mopohua, and the Nican Motecpana by Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, enriched with slight personal additions by Lasso de la Vega himself, and brought to the presses by Juan Ruyz, the son of Enrico Martínez, in Mexico City, in 1649.

Although Luis Laso de la Vega claims to be the author of the Nican Mopohua in its entirety, however, from the analysis of his work it can be deduced that Lasso de la Vega wrote only the introduction and the conclusion of the book, being practically established by all scholars, that the authorship of the Nican Mopohua, without a doubt, is attributable to the indigenous Antonio Valeriano. (See the Study Guide that accompanies this facsimile for more information).

What is a facsimile?

A facsimile or facsimile (from the Latin fac simile, ‘to make similar’) is a copy or almost identical reproduction of a document, a book, a map, or a manuscript, generally ancient and of great value.

Thus, there are very valuable manuscripts treasured in museums, libraries and private collections, which we would like to have in our possession because of their great historical, artistic and cultural value.

This not being possible, there are experts, art workshops and specialized publishers who are dedicated precisely to this: to make facsimiles, or unique reproductions, almost identical to those of the original document or manuscript.

A facsimile is an identical copy of an ancient or valuable document. It is also called a reproduction, quasi-original or “clone”.

Why a facsimile of the Nican Mopohua?

First bifolium, perfectly reproduced on Genoese paper.

The 16 pages that make up the Nican Mopohua (in Nahuatl “here it is narrated, here it is told”), represent, without a doubt, one of the most important historical-religious documents of the Americas. However, no high-quality facsimile reproduction has ever been made.

Despite its immense relevance, this document remains largely unknown to the general public.

Being experts in the reproduction of sacred manuscripts for the Washington Museum of the Bible, we now have the privilege of bringing to light the first facsimile of this monumental work, achieving high levels of perfection and beauty.

Artesans

Artisans