The Twelve Paris Sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

The Twelve Paris Sketchbooks of Leonardo da Vinci

The personal collection of ideas from the great universal genius

LEONARDO, BORN IN 1452 IN ANCHIANO NEAR VINCI

Leonardo, born in 1452 in Anchiano near Vinci – hence his name – began his notes in the 1480s. Da Vinci wrote in mirror writing: on the one hand, he was left-handed and this technique prevented the ink from smudging as he wrote; on the other hand, it helped him to keep his ideas secret and made it more difficult for imitators to copy his thoughts.

He filled more than 7,200 pages, preserved today as a collection of 25 notebooks (codices); they give us insight into the central themes that occupied him: among others, flight, water, anatomy, art, horses, mechanics, and geology. An incredible collection of thoughts and ideas, far ahead of its time, unfolds before the reader while leafing through the fascinating pages. As early as 1910, Sigmund Freud aptly summarized it:

"He was like a man who woke up too early in the darkness, while the others were all still asleep."

The first four volumes (Manuscripts A, E, and M, as well as Compl. A) will be the starting point as a facsimile edition, containing notes from various fields, such as drawing techniques, the properties of water, weight and gravity, as well as geometry and botany.
Manuscript A was originally more extensive, but in the 1840s, pages 81 to 114 of this manuscript (as well as pages 91 to 100 of Manuscript B) were cut out, stolen, and sold. It was only 50 years later that they were returned to the Institut de France, and today they are preserved as the two Ashburnham Codices, bound as independent volumes. As a result, both Manuscript A and Manuscript B have a supplementary volume (Complément A and Complément B).

In his notes, Leonardo frequently switches spontaneously between completely different subjects. This loose combination of various notes and drawings on different topics, typical for all his notebooks, can be attributed to the way Leonardo wrote them: he always had a notebook or loose sheets with him in his daily life to capture his spontaneous (often very diverse) impressions, considerations, and depictions of things he saw or ideas he had. Therefore, his notes do not follow a fixed structure or a consistent thematic sequence but reveal the diverse thought processes of this great genius.

Leonardo's questions were comprehensive, reflecting the Renaissance mindset: they were about understanding the connections in the world as a macrocosm, represented by the human being as a microcosm.
Throughout his life, the great Leonardo da Vinci always carried a notebook with him to immediately capture ideas. Now, Leonardo's twelve Paris sketchbooks and the two supplementary volumes are being made available as a perfect, faithful facsimile edition, limited to 990 copies.

This faithful facsimile edition of the manuscripts "Manuscript A, E, and M as well as Compl. A" from the collection of the Institut de France in Paris is published in a strictly limited edition of only 990 copies worldwide. Countless sketches illustrate Leonardo da Vinci’s rich world of ideas.

The accompanying scholarly volume, set to be released at the end of 2023, delves into all aspects of the manuscript, traces its fascinating history, and explains all its contents and the key themes of Da Vinci's work. We are very pleased to have brought together a renowned team of seven authors, led by Martin Kemp and Domenico Laurenza, who, through the companion volume, translate and interpret the sometimes complex content, written in Old Italian and, as mentioned, in mirror writing, making the thoughts of a universal genius accessible to a wider audience.

"The 12 Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci – A Glimpse into the Creative Mind of a Genius Ahead of His Time."