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The second hypothesis that might explain how Thevet came to be in possession of the Codex Mendoza is found only in the testimony of a lone French geographer, penned in 1588 in an unpublished manuscript titled Grande Insulaire et Pilotage. Published and translated into English for the first time in 1986 by Schlessinger and Stabler, the Grande Insulaire was used for the first time as a source of information for the Codex Mendoza’s trajectory by H. B. Nicholson in 1992,

two books about the idols writ by hand containing the genealogy and history of the kings and great lords of that country, and the pictures of the idols they adored, painted and pictured in two books, written by hand by a monk who lived there around thirty-four years, excercising the charge of bishop of that country … these books came into my hands after having been presented to the late Queen of Spain, daughter of King Henry II of France … The reader who might be curious and wants to go thoroughly into the matter will have patience, if it please him, to wait until I have published these books, which will be soon with God’s help. Still, if he were too famished [to wait], I would advise him to come see me and I will show him something that will be able to satisfy him. (Thevet cited in Schlesinger and Stabler 1986, 218–19).