FOREWORD

The volume reproducing in its entirety Manuscript A from the Institute The Institut de France in Paris, which holds several of Leonardo's notebooks—the first attempt at a truly faithful, complete, and definitive edition of Leonardo da Vinci's writings—has received the most benevolent and encouraging reception. It has already given rise to remarkable writings containing new insights into Leonardo's genius and works. Foremost among these are a general and in-depth study by Mr. Ch. Lévêque, of the Institute; another study focusing specifically on the philosophical genius of the great artist by Mr. G. Séailles; an article by Mr. Ch. Clément in the Débats; and two other recent articles, one from the Times by Mr. Wallis, and the other from the Nuova Antologia of Rome by Mr. L. Ferri. It can be said, in truth, that all competent judges who have expressed an opinion regarding this volume and this undertaking have now admitted its full interest and utility¹.

However, Mr. J.-P. Richter—the author of a fine and important work recently published in England according to the old method (giving an overview of all Leonardo's writings by means of a large number of extracts classified in an order other than that of the original texts)²—has made an exception. He attributed, especially in a German Review³, a gravity to a few errors of transcription and translation (which my will alone was not enough to avoid) that they are very far from having. This was immediately and generally recognized. In an undertaking as arduous as deciphering and explaining everything that appears in unpublished manuscripts such as these, it would truly be asking too much to claim there were absolutely no faults of interpretation or printing. I stated as much in a study I published in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts (on the character of Leonardo da Vinci's writings, and on the...

1. See: in the Journal officiel, the Journal des Débats, the Temps, etc., the report of the session of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres of December 14, 1880; the Revue des Deux Mondes of December 15, 1880; the Weekly Bulletin of the Scientific Association of France of December 1881 (p. 151, lecture at the Sorbonne by Charles Blanc); the Bibliographic Monitor of February 1881 (p. 35); the Journal des Débats of February 22, 1881, by Mr. Charles Clément; the Political and Literary Review, no. 20, May 14, 1881 (p. 627), by Mr. G. Séailles; the Journal des Savants, July 1882, by Mr. Ch. Lévêque; the Times of September 2, 1882, and August 9, 1883, by Mr. Wallis; the Nuova Antologia, October 15, 1883 (Leonardo da Vinci, according to new documents, Luigi Ferri).
2. The literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci, compiled and edited from the original Manuscripts, by J.-P. Richter, Ph. Dr., 2 vols., 367 and 499 pages in-quarto, London, Sampson Low and Co., 1883. One will find in this collection, edited with luxury, a large number of interesting facsimiles and the most complete bibliography of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts (other than those of the Institute) that has yet appeared.
3. The Journal for Visual Arts original: "Die Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst", 1881.