INTRODUCTION

The Selected Texts of Leonardo da Vinci (1) have been received with favor; the French Academy awarded them a Charles Blanc prize, perhaps less for the aesthetic importance of this popularization than for the literary beauty of certain pages that truly equal the descriptions of the most famous writers, such as the Deluge and the Battle. Péladan refers to Leonardo’s vivid written descriptions of a cataclysmic flood and a chaotic battle scene, which showcase his mastery of prose as well as painting.

To reduce five thousand pages to three hundred and fifty-seven is necessarily to renounce many notable passages; it also obliges one to repeat the parts already known and which predecessors have rightly preferred.

A selection always has the disadvantage of leaving a doubt in the reader's mind; everyone mixes their own preferences and tendencies into their judgment. A complete, unabridged publication original: "L’in-extenso" in this case is impossible, less because of the length than because of the jumble. Leonardo’s notebooks are famously disorganized, containing shopping lists alongside profound scientific observations and artistic theories.

A page of Leonardo deserves the same veneration

(1) LEONARDO DA VINCI. — Selected Texts: Thoughts, Theories, Precepts, Fables, and Jokes, translated in their entirety for the first time from the original manuscripts and arranged in methodical order with an introduction by PÉLADAN. Joséphin Péladan (1858–1918) was an eccentric French novelist and Rosicrucian who played a major role in the 19th-century revival of interest in Leonardo. Thirty-one facsimiles of drawings and sketches. Volume in-18 (5th edition) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.50