POPOL VUH. - The P. V. (= national book) may be regarded as the Bible of the Quiché Maya (v. dei). It deals with subjects concerning cosmogony, religion, mythology, traditions of migrations, and narratives of historical events of the Quiché.
It is written in Latin characters, with the addition of a few special signs. It was first discovered, toward the end of the 18th century, by Francesco Ximenez at Chichicastenango (hence it is also called the “manuscript of Chichicastenango,” not, however, to be confused with another manuscript of the same name). The natives kept it jealously and secretly guarded and held it in almost veneration.
The first editions were produced by C. Scherzer (1854) and Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourgh (1861). Among the more recent editions may be mentioned those of Georges Raynaud (Les dieux, les héros et les hommes de l'ancien Guatemala, d'après le livre du Conseil-P. V., Paris 1925); and of Antonio Villacorta and Flavio Rodas (Manuscritto de Chichicastenango-Popul Buj, estudio sobre las antiguas tradiciones del pueblo Quiché, Guatemala 1927).
No edition has been published in Italian.