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Examination of the creases under a magnifying glass indicates that they were formed after painting and writing: there are no signs of the disturbances in paint or ink-flow which would have been inevitable if a brush or pen were applied to creases already present in the blank paper. Similarly, the creases do not seem to appear in the front endleaves (pastedown and folios i-ii): these show vertical pleats which do not match those of the main text-block and their faint hints of horizontal indentations look like sympathetic settling against the text-block rather than the direct effects of folding. The early flyleaf at the end (folio 72) shows even less indications of creasing, except again perhaps very slight “sympathy” marks. These observations indicate that the text block had been folded before these endleaves were in place.

The evidence of the folds may be considered alongside the observation that the outside pages of the Codex Mendoza’s text block (folios lr and 71v) are browner than the inside pages of the manuscript; such discoloration is most likely explained through the absence of a cover or any other endleaves for a considerable period of time. This could mean that the manuscript did not even have a limp parchment cover. Therefore, in conclusion, it would seem that the Codex Mendoza had survived disbound for some period of its early history and during that time was roughly folded over twice into a small package—perhaps during a pirate raid.