Alfred Maudslay and the Maya

This biography, the first ever published of Alfred Maudslay (1850-1931) , describes a fascinating man. Maudslay worked as a junior Colonial Office official in the South Seas, but found his true vocation aged thirty-one, when he arrived in Guatemala, where he played a crucial role in the decipherment of Maya hieroglyphic writing. He made accurate site maps, painstakingly recorded inscriptions and made plaster casts of large stone monuments. His five great volumes of photographs, drawings, plans and text, published a century ago as part of a vast compendium entitled the Biologia Centrali-Americana, remain a valuable resource in Maya studies. Perhaps his greatest legacy is his collection of magnificent glass-negative photographs, many of which are reproduced in this book.