What exactly do they look like?
These thousands of pages have crossed five centuries, in the form of small bound notebooks, sheets which are either loose or collated, with paper cut-outs too, whose sizes vary depending on their use. Despite its exorbitant cost in the 15th century, paper was extensively used by Leonardo who accumulated notes and drawings on a single sheet in no apparent order.
In many cases, the pencil drawings have faded while others cannot be identified. The texts, a mixture of Tuscan and Lombard dialects and littered with abbreviations, are written in "mirror format", i.e. right to left, which means that interpretation of these sheets is a specialist undertaking.
A tumultuous history.
The manuscripts have been on a hazardous journey. Their value was universally recognised on Leonardo's death but they would later fall into grasping hands and become subject to inappropriate classification as well as negligence on all sides. They also suffered the consequences of changing fortunes and the tragedies of history.
On Leonardo's death in 1519.
In his will, Leonardo left all of his manuscripts to Francesco Melzi, one of his pupils, who continued the project begun with his master of organising the sheets into themes. He would subsequently bequeath the manuscripts to his son Orazio who sold them off separately.
From the 17th to the late 19th century.
The manuscripts remained little known until the publication of the Treatise on painting in 1651 in Paris, followed by An essay on the physico-mathematical works of Leonardo da Vinci by the scientist Jean-Baptiste Venturi in 1797. They were deemed as "curiosities" by enlightened visitors to Italy through to the 18th century but would reach a wider audience with publications by Jean-Paul Richter in London and Félix Ravaisson-in Paris in the late 19th century.
Today.
The most prestigious European institutions house the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Only one is owned by a private individual, a certain Bill Gates in Seattle (United States).
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