If books are not the most perishable products of human civilization, they have, throughout recorded history, attracted the homicidal attentions of every conquering army.
Damnatio memoriae
In 1562, a Franciscan friar who had accompanied Spanish troops to Mexico ordered the burning of thousands of Mayan hieroglyphic books, in an attempt to eradicate the repository of local spiritual beliefs and to pave the way for Christianity.
· bibliophobia [ courtesy of Ghostwriters ]
