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It has been argued by Frank Lestringant (1991, 38–39)2 that Thevet’s signature on the pastedown belongs not with his dated signatures of 1553 (folios 1r, 71v, with Latinized form “Thevetus”), but rather to a later group (front pastedown and folios 2r, 70v, French form of name, bolder script). This later group is undated, but on folio 2r it is accompanied by the title Cosmographe du Roi, which Thevet assumed, according to Lestringant, only from 1568/9. If this is correct (in spite of the slight suspicion that the signature and title on folio 2r might not be uniformly written), the signature on the present front pastedown might have been written after 1568. This does not provide a similar terminus ante quem non for the creation of that leaf itself, though a rebinding at some later stage of Thevet’s ownership would offer a motive for him to have rewritten his signature there. Despite all these uncertainties, it is tempting to very tentatively suggest that the earlier binding of the Codex Mendoza, as now represented only by the earlier endleaves, was made in the twenty years or so between 1568 and 1587. This would be entirely in line with the French watermarks of the 1570s which are indicated above as (non-exact) parallels with the watermarks of folios i-ii (Pattern G).