Alfred Maudslay

The massive five volume set continues to serve as an important work of reference for the study of Maya culture.

After attending Harrow School, Maudslay studied natural sciences at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and obtained a BA in 1872.

They toured Central America, Mexico and parts of the United States, including the recently established Yosemite Park.

Afterwards, his chronic bronchitis led him to drop plans for a medical career and leave England for a warmer climate.

His Cambridge friend, ornithologist Osbert Salvi, encouraged him to explore the Maya ruins of Quiriguá and Copán.

He then joined his siblings in Calcutta during their round-the-world trip, returned to Britain in December, and then set out for Guatemala via British Honduras.

Sarg also introduced Maudslay to the newly found ruins in Tikal and to reliable guide Gorgonio López.

With Teobert Maler, Alfred Maudslay explored Chichén in the 1880s and both spent several weeks at the site and took extensive photographs.

Artist Annie Hunter drew impressions of the casts before they were shipped to museums in England and the United States.

Maudslay also took numerous detailed photographs – dry plate photography was then a new technique – and made copies of the inscriptions.

At Maudslay's request, an interpretation of Maya calendar glyphs by Joseph Thompson Goodman was added as an appendix.

In 1905, Maudslay began to translate the memoirs of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, who had been a soldier in the troops of the conquistadors; he completed it in 1912.