PREFACE

At the end of this note, one reads, in a different hand and a different ink:

The undersigned acknowledges having received from the curators and administrators of the King’s Library the manuscripts listed in the statement above, with the exception of nine manuscript volumes by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci, which, according to the declaration of the curators, did not arrive at the King’s Library.

Paris, this 5th of October 1835.

In reading this note, one might believe at first glance that the Baron de Ottenfels had taken back from the National Library four "manuscript volumes by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci," namely:

1st The Atlantic Manuscript The Codex Atlanticus, Leonardo's largest collection of drawings and writings: "One volume... of 398 sheets... collected by Pompeo Leoni, etc., as stated on the stone tablet."
2nd 12 volumes, both large and small, "another 12 volumes between large and small," with "the exception of nine, which did not arrive at the King’s Library," in other words, three manuscripts besides the Atlantic, one of which was "an in-folio bound in skin, which treats 'of light and shadows'."

This would be an error. Indeed, in the brief description of this last item, it is easy to recognize the manuscript marked C by Venturi Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746–1822), the first scholar to seriously study Leonardo's scientific work, given by Guy (Guido) Mazzenta to Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who placed it in the Ambrosian Library when he founded it. Now, this manuscript has never ceased to be part of the library of the Institute since 1790; consequently, the volume taken back by the Austrian commissioner was a copy of our original manuscript, and it is highly likely that the two other volumes by Leonardo were likewise copies. According to Mr. Govi, these copies were required to take the place of the originals; if this were so, it was an abuse of force, similar to so many others that took place elsewhere, especially at the Louvre.

Besides the manuscripts of the library of the Institute, we still have in Paris a certain number of sheets containing both mirror writing original: "texte à rebours," referring to Leonardo's famous habit of writing from right to left and drawings by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Louvre Museum possesses the collection formerly belonging to Vallardi which, among a great number of pages, contains some by Leonardo's hand; one of the most beautiful drawings found there, a head of a man, was engraved by Mr. Leroy; the engraving was accompanied by a notice by Mr. F. Reiset.

Two detached sheets, with text and drawings, were exhibited in 1879 at the School of Fine Arts and described in the Exhibition Catalogue under numbers 33 and 35. The first, belonging to the Marquis de Chennevières, represents a hanged man dressed in a long robe; beside it, the description of the costume. The second, whose owner is Mr. A. Armand, contains studies of soldiers variously armed with captions.

A drawing of men operating a capstan capstan: a vertical-axled rotating machine developed for use on sailing ships to multiply the pulling force of seamen, with a few lines of mirror writing, was sold a few years ago by Mr. Auvray to Mr. Boilly the younger.

In Milan, the Ambrosian Library possesses once again, as we have just seen, the Atlantic manuscript, marked N by Venturi at the National Library.

The Atlantic is 65 centimeters high by 44 wide; it contains 399 sheets and 1750 drawings and has just been, as we have seen, the subject of an important publication in Milan. "It is composed," says Mr. Govi, of several volumes whose pages were separated and pasted onto large sheets of drawing paper; if one could