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The sum total of studies on the Codex Mendoza, beginning in 1625 and continuing to this day, weave a narrative of the concerns that have guided successive generations of scholars of the Codex Mendoza. The aggregate of these studies effectively reflects the central themes and preoccupations of the scholars’ essays, be it in the case of utilitarian reproductions, positivistic documentary studies, or phenomenological treatises. Combined, these have allowed projects such as this one to appear, and they emphasize the essential instability both of historical inquiry and of the object they study. Two episodes concerning the construction of the Codex Mendoza’s history continue to add to the discussion of the manuscript’s identity and purpose, despite a myriad of investigations. The first of these is the Codex Mendoza’s itinerary between its departure from Mexico and Thevet’s acquisition of it; the second is Francisco Clavijero’s christening of the manuscript after Viceroy Antonio de Mendoza. Because of the complexity, importance, and unavoidable degree of speculation surrounding these events, I will address them at length in the remainder of this essay.