Dictionary of Maya Hieroglyphs Paperback – December 1, 2002

There's very few entries in this dictionary. I've seen word lists in films that contain thousands of entries. This maybe contains a hundred or two.One benefit to this is that the glyphs are very big- one inch by one inch- huge, really, and you can see all the details necessary for drawing them yourself.But it's not too terribly scholarly. If a guy wants to be fluent in this language as a careers (as I), very soon (5 years) I'll outgrow this dictionary and need another of greater depth.Here's the big-picture low-down: ancient languages (Archaic Sumerian, Oracle Bone Script Chinese, even Middle Egyptian!) like this are poorly represented in public-accessable books, despite the number of interested scholars we have devoted to these these languages. This is something I see historically in anthro-archaeological academia: No one pubishes to get the information to the pubic, even in their own country.I would like to become an expert in all of these languages and others and write many books for the English-speaking market. Until then, we'll have to settle for a limited selection by a labotomized group of knowledge-hogs.

The Great:This is one of the best books (I have most of them) in terms of representing the Maya glyphs in an easy to reference format (it is a dictionary after all). It includes a Spanish and English index, and the pronounciation for each glyph is included with meaning, alternate forms, etc. I was planning on using the book for doing some replica Maya pottery and the large glyph images are exactly what I needed. Had the book been published well, I would have given 5 stars.The Bad:When the first copy arrived I was awestruck by the quality of the drawings and the orgnaization. But I soon discovered that pages 161-192 had been duplicated and that pages 193-224 were missing! I returned the book to Amazon for a replacement and made a clear message that I did not want a second defective book and that the missing pages be checked for. Unfortunately the second book arrived with exactly the same extra and missing pages. I am returning the second book as well and hope that the publisher can get it right. This is a great book but it looks like the publisher had a binding defect and either did not catch it or chose to ship anyway in the hopes buyers would not notice. Minus two stars and beware potential buyers - check your copy.To Amazon:While your return/refund policy is streamlined and efficient, there should be some quality control and checking of the messages - at least in cases where the product may have a defect that effects more than a single unit - that way you can protect the customer from wasted time and effort and can more rapidly get good product to your customers.

Great book. It is in excellent condition and was purchased at a good price. I am happy to add this book to my collection of books on Mayan history and Mayan art.

This book has been perfect for my Maya Hieroglyph class, easy to understand, and navigate. I've found it more helpful than others that I've read.

If you have artifacts you’re ready to translate It’s probably still going to be difficult with this book but I’m not an archaeologist so I had no business rating it

Great book.

Who doesn't want to read Mayan heiroglyphs? Great photos & explanations. Arrived undamaged. Highly recommend.

I waited basically 35 years for this great improvement in Mayan glyph studies. The dictionary supplies the accepted reading for each glyph and those combined as full words dependent on Ch'olan and Yucatecan Mayan. I am surprised that Macri et al. did not add this book by Montgomery in their two bibliographies.

This is an interesting work. The 'glyphs are broken down into their component parts, with good detailled explanation. I find this an excellent book to use with Coe's 'Breaking the Maya code'. It's also useful when looking at hi res scans of actual Mayan artwork. Highly recommended for those interested in deciphering Mayan or for those that like a varied library.

Excellent book, it's exactly what it says it is, a complete and comprehensive dictionary of Maya hieroglyphs. If that's what your looking for then definitely buy it.

Excellent!

A must own book on the subject!!!