The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci

A major new edition in three beautiful illustrated volumes

The genius of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) has never been rivalled. In the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, he created the most iconic images in Western art, and to many he is simply the greatest painter who ever lived. Yet his brilliance extended well beyond these masterpieces. As well as his paintings, Leonardo left behind the most extraordinarily diverse body of written work ever created by one individual. Written in his unique mirror-writing, Leonardo’s notebooks reveal his astonishingly prescient discoveries in anatomy, medicine, engineering, optics, architecture, hydraulics, botany and natural history.

The illegitimate son of a notary and a peasant woman from the small town of Vinci, Leonardo had no formal education aside from his apprenticeship as a painter, which began at age 14. He knew no Latin, a huge disadvantage at the time. This very lack of education caused him to rely on his own observations and experience, rather than written authority – a revolutionary new method, far ahead of its time.

A self-taught genius who anticipated the theories of Galileo, Newton and Einstein

Training his all-seeing gaze on the world around him, Leonardo made deductions that are uncanny in their accuracy. ‘The sun does not move,’ he noted, 100 years before Galileo reached the same conclusion. He also found that ‘Every weight tends to fall towards the centre by the shortest way’, 150 years before Isaac Newton. In carrying out his experiments in anatomy, Leonardo realised that blood circulated around the body – a breakthrough in medicine that was later confirmed by William Harvey in 1628. And when he wrote of the ‘quality of time as distinct from its mathematical divisions’, he was setting out on a path that was later travelled by Einstein.

A priceless legacy, hidden for centuries

Leonardo filled his notebooks with sketches of inventions that were nothing short of visions of the future. Fascinated by engineering and the mechanics of flying, Leonardo designed flying machines, portable bridges, submarines, the first mechanised crossbow and an early prototype of the armoured car – although he himself was a pacifist who referred to war as ‘the most bestial madness’.

Leonardo did not intend any of his notes to be published during his lifetime, but bequeathed them intact to his heir Francesco Melzi, with instructions that they should be published after his death. Melzi died, however, and his son began to sell the notebooks; in time they were scattered among private collections all over Europe. While they were regarded with due reverence as the property of a great man, they were considered mere curiosities. It was not until the 19th century that a proper process of translation began, and the extraordinary value of the notebooks was discovered for the first time.

Through these pages, Leonardo reveals himself as a fine writer, with a gift for a memorable phrase: ‘While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.’ ‘One ought not to desire the impossible.’ This collection also provides precious insights into his everyday life: his earliest memories of childhood, an account of the exasperating misdeeds of his apprentice, and a budget for his mother’s funeral expenses. Together, they allow us to see into the heart of an enigma, and give a picture, as far as is possible, of the whole man.

Leonardo´s writings gathered together with a wide range of his drawings

Leonardo recorded his thoughts in his famous mirror-script, a crabbed hand that ran backwards, right to left across the page. This may have been the natural way for a left-handed man to write without smudging his ink, but it is also likely that he was aiming to preserve the secrecy of his writings, particularly those concerning his experiments in anatomy, which were prohibited by the Church authorities. As ever with Leonardo, the practical and the mysterious are intermingled.

This major translation by Edward MacCurdy and Ladislao Reti gathers together Leonardo’s writings on every topic, alongside 98 coloured plates of his finest drawings. Each volume has a main focus: volume I on anatomy, volume II on engineering, and volume III on painting – yet his untrammelled genius means that these can only be broad groupings. A myriad of interests are covered, from philosophy and aphorisms to sculpture and hydraulics, alongside miscellaneous prophecies, jokes, rebuses, dreams, travellers’ tales, bestiaries, personalia and letters.

This new edition of The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci includes Leonardo’s writings on almost every subject imaginable, under 50 different headings. Through his personal notes,we gain insights into his passions, preoccupations and eccentricities. A new index of unprecedented detail allows the reader to navigate easily through Leonardo’s notes to discover, as never before, the genius of this most singular artist.

Volume I
philosophy, anatomy, human
proportions, medicine, optics
acoustics, botany, geology

Volume II
flight, flying machines
mathematics, the nature
of water hydraulics,
experiments, inventions

Volume III
precepts of the painter
colour, light & shade
perspective, sculpture
architecture, music jests,
fables

The riches of leonardo´s genius in a comprehensive new edition

Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks are among the most precious documents in the world, unparalleled in the history of science or art. This new Folio Society edition provides the perfect key to this priceless legacy. With 50 subject headings over three volumes, it covers all aspects of Leonardo’s manifold genius. Two revealing and insightful essays provide a masterly account of Leonardo and his writings: one by author and biographer Charles Nicholl, and the other by translator and editor Edward MacCurdy.

In this edition, nearly 100 of Leonardo’s drawings are reproduced in colour. These images include some of his most fascinating work, including preparatory drawings for The Last Supper, anatomical diagrams and sketches of inventions.