The Manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci

Of the thirteen manuscripts belonging to Mazzenta, ten came into the hands of Leoni Pompeo Leoni, the sculptor who attempted to consolidate Leonardo's papers.

Those belonging to the Duke of Savoy and to Figgini are lost; the one belonging to the Cardinal, given to the Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, is the current Manuscript C of the Institute The Institut de France in Paris.

In 1637, Arconati Galeazzo Arconati, who famously refused to sell the manuscripts to King Charles I of England gave to the Ambrosiana the Codex Atlanticus (393 pages gathering 1600 sheets), as well as manuscripts A, B, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, of the Institute, and also the manuscript currently held by Marquis Trivulzio. K was given to the Ambrosiana by Orazio Archinti in 1674.

In 1796, by order of Bonaparte, Leonardo's manuscripts were sent to Paris. The Codex Atlanticus went to the National Library and the twelve others to the Institute. Venturi Giovanni Battista Venturi, the first scholar to seriously study Leonardo's scientific work labeled them from A to M. When, in 1815, the Austrian commissioner reclaimed Leonardo's manuscripts, the Codex was returned to him, but the twelve volumes at the Institute were not found A fortunate "oversight" for France, as these twelve notebooks remain in Paris to this day.

Mr. Léopold Delisle A renowned French librarian and historian has recovered the two volumes formed from sheets torn out by Libri Guglielmo Libri, a mathematician and infamous book thief who stole thousands of manuscripts and sold to Lord Ashburnham. They are marked ASH. I (26 pages, 25 of which were taken from Manuscript B) and ASH. II (68 pages, containing the principal chapters of the Treatise on Painting).

Charles Ravaisson-Mollien, in a labor of ten years (1880–1891), deciphered with a magnifying glass and a mirror Leonardo wrote in "mirror script," from right to left and published in six folio volumes of facsimiles the text with the French translation facing it. The very high price of this work makes it inaccessible to most, and not all libraries possess it.