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With work in Mexico difficult if not impossible, the codices were attracting more attention from Americanist scholars—an interest that may have been enhanced by viewing the codices at Oxford on the congress excursion. Obtaining copies of codices, which were in Europe, was a problem. Scholars often found it difficult to obtain permission to view and copy them, and the manuscripts obviously did not travel. Many of the codices were large and intricate , and the process of copying was difficult and time consuming. And there was still no satisfactory method of reproducing them in color, so copying by hand continued to be the only option. The element of control over codices and manuscripts also became increasingly important to some collectors who had physical possession or ownership of the material. Obtaining permission to view or study the codices and manuscripts could be difficult, and at times impossible. The lines between custody and greed were murky. Most of the existing copies of the codices were unsatisfactory by Adela’s standards (and often Annie’s). Adela had just been to see the Cospiano Codex, which is reproduced in Kingsborough’s nine volumes of copies of codices, 1830–1848. (The project bankrupted the unfortunate Lord Kingsborough and sent him to debtor’s prison.) “Comparing [the] Loubat and Kingsborough [copies] with the original (I made a rough sketch of one bit) the discrepancies are great + the colour of the Loubat not at all satisfactory. It is not possible to study the material except from a really understanding copy. Kingsborough is quite unreliable” (AB to Bowditch, Dec. 17, 1913, PM). Concern with accuracy of copies and correct colors continued. Adela wrote Bowditch that Annie Hunter had copied some pages from the Codex Kingsborough for her, and told Bowditch that the color made all the difference in studying it. She suggests colored copies could be kept “where they would be available to students, say, at the Peabody Museum?” (AB to Bowditch, Jan. 16, 1914, PM). She knew the various codices 173 ______________________________________ Chapter Twenty-Seven The Manuscript “Collectors” My brother says I ought to forget “the Americanists” entirely for a time. They do get on one’s nerves. —Adela Breton to George Byron Gordon, June ,  174 Chapter Twenty-Seven ______________________________________ in England well and discussed which could be copied readily and which couldn’t. In that same letter, she thanked Bowditch for his kind offer of help in the reproduction of the Chichén and Acanceh paintings (ibid.). Questions were surfacing about Adela copying codices. This was a different matter than her copying in Mexico, where concerns about preservation and recording what remained before it deteriorated to the point of ruin prevailed. Copying codices and other manuscripts in collections or museums primarily involved simple reproduction; there was no immediate danger of the manuscripts being destroyed or badly damaged. The difference in physical setting of the copying also was significant for Adela. As arduous as copying on site often was, she thrived on it. She found the outdoor life, as she referred to it, stimulating and healthy. Outdoor life was what she had sought out, the first possible chance for an independent life, and she always looked to it to restore her. Unfortunately, an outdoor life copying murals on site did not appear to be in the immediate future with the uncertain situation in Mexico. With some Americanists turning to the codices and manuscripts as sources of research and work, the need and enthusiasm for copies made Adela even more of a central source for information and arrangements. Her correspondence with businessman and collector William Gates began innocuously enough. Gates had presented a copy of the facsimile of the Madrid Maya Codex to the 1912 Americanist Congress, although unable to attend himself, and Adela had promptly sent a thank-you note, as did Maudslay. In Gates’s reply he told Adela, I was much pleased to have the reprint of your paper on the Chichen Itza paintings ; and it may interest you to know that last season (1911) a friend of mine in this country spent some time there, photographing every stone, each I believe three times with ray screens, and after another trip to fill up some failures, hopes in time to print the whole, in the colors. (Gates to AB, July 16, 1912; William E. Gates, Correspondence between William E. Gates and Adela Breton [Mss 279], L. Tom Perry special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) Adela...

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