Author: Gonzáles Calderón, O.L.
Title: The jade lords.
Description: [Coatzacoalcos, Ver. (i.e. Veracruz)], [O.L. Gonzáles Calderón], [1991]. 135 pp. 543 ill (chiefly col.) on [136] plts. Orig. hardcover (green cloth with gilt lettering), d./j. 4to. - Very light shelfwear; small dam. spot on first endpaper (upper pastdown); dust jacket creased.Very rare monographs. - An English translation of: Los señores de jade (1991). - - [Extracted from the introduction page] The study of the minor Olmec schulpture is the fundamental basis of this book. To call it minor is a conotation of size and physical measure in terms of centimeters. [...]. The material used were jade, serpentine, clay, granite, basalt and wood. [...]. There is a special mention of the jade cult, because it established the zenith of the Olmec art. In the history of jade carving, nobody achieved nor even came close to compare with the magnificent realizations of the Olmec lapidaries and ther patrons, the Jade Lords. [...] [Dust jacket notes:] The Olmec Civilization was the creator of the most beautiful and impressive sculptural art works of all the Mesoamerican pre-Columbian art. It has been always an enigma: the sudden appearance of this magnificent art within a primitive environment, without the existence of any previous development stages. Now for the first time are exhibited here the achievements of long years of investigation around the Olmec problem. It has been possible to find enough evidence of the physical presence in America, 2,000 years ago, of transoceanic immigrants from the Old World, and also the cultural seeding they brought to the young Mesoamerica in those historical happenings, that influenced the cultural expressions of all the Mesoamerican Civilizations since the first one, the Olmec, until the two last, the Maya and the Aztec. The achieved facts permit also to make a definitive correction of many wrong statements about the Olmec occurred since the first explorations of Mathew Stirling until the works of Michael D. Coe, the two most outstanding American archaeologists. There are here published many new findings about the Olmec, being the most remarkable their original long distance communications system by the use of solar rays reflected in their marvelous hematite mirrors, a cultural feat that was the first step towards the Maya numerals and hieroglyphics.

Keywords: Native Art North-America Mexico Pre-Columbian Primitieve kunst Amerika Pre-Columbiaans