PREFACE.

...other private owners of Leonardo's manuscripts; as well as the directors of the Louvre in Paris, the Academy in Venice, the Uffizi in Florence, the Royal Library in Turin, the British Museum, and the South Kensington Museum Now the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).. I am also greatly indebted to the librarians of these various collections for much assistance in my labors, and more particularly to Monsieur Louis Lalanne of the Institute of France; Abbot Ceriani of the Ambrosian Library; Mr. Maude Thompson, Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum; Mr. Holmes, the Queen’s Librarian at Windsor; the Reverend Vere Bayne, Librarian of Christ Church College at Oxford; and the Reverend A. Napier, Librarian to the Earl of Leicester at Holkham Hall.

In correcting the Italian text for the press, I have had the advantage of valuable advice from Knight Commander original: "Commendatore" Giovanni Morelli, a Senator of the Kingdom original: "Senatore del Regno", and from Signor Gustavo Frizzoni of Milan. The translation of the Italian text into English, despite many difficulties, is mainly due to Mrs. R. C. Bell. Meanwhile, the rendering of several of the most puzzling and important passages—particularly in the second half of Volume I—I owe to the tireless interest taken in this work by Mr. E. J. Poynter, R.A. Edward John Poynter was a prominent painter and later President of the Royal Academy (R.A.).. Finally, I must express my thanks to Mr. Alfred Marks of Long Ditton, who has most kindly assisted me throughout in the revision of the proof sheets.

I owe the notes and dissertations on the architectural texts in Volume II to my friend Baron Henri de Geymüller of Paris.

I may further mention, regarding the illustrations, that the negatives for the production of the "photogravures" An early chemical-photographic process used to produce high-quality prints of drawings and paintings. by Monsieur Dujardin of Paris were all taken directly from the originals.

It is scarcely necessary to add that most of the drawings reproduced here in facsimile have never been published before. As I am now, at the end of a project lasting several years, in a position to review the general character of Leonardo's writings, I may perhaps be permitted to add a word as to my own estimate of their value. I have already shown that it is only due to a random series of unfortunate circumstances that we have not, long ago, known Leonardo not merely as a painter, but as an author, a philosopher, and a naturalist. There can be no doubt that in more than one department, his principles and discoveries were infinitely more in accord with the teachings of modern science than with the views of his contemporaries. For this reason, his extraordinary gifts and merits are far more likely to be appreciated in our own time...