INTRODUCTION

The anatomical sheets of Leonardo da Vinci, which we are publishing today and which form part of the collection of the Royal Library of Windsor, were written in 1510 1. They are loose sheets, like all the others in the great collection; however, these surely must have originally formed a single volume along with others that are now missing.

The sheets that deal with anatomyThe study of the internal and external structures of the body. are numerous in the Royal Library and of various types; they originally belonged to different volumes. We will therefore distinguish them in this publication by different letters of the alphabet; those that we are publishing now are designated by the letter A.

There are fourteen that belong, without any doubt, to the same volume; these are the FoliosA "folio" refers to an individual leaf of paper, which has two sides.: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14. Physical evidence for this includes the uniformity of the paper, the dimensions, and the marks from the sewing that align correctly.

Two sheets, 15 and 16—made of paper that is not identical to that of the others, but very similar—also seem to belong to this volume. Folio 15 has the same common characteristics as the others, and the pencil drawing, Fig. 219, matches the pen drawing on the versoThe back side of a folio. of Folio 4, Fig. 71; one can also compare the drawing of the leg, Fig. 225, with the one corresponding to it on the rectoThe front side of a folio. of Folio 7, Fig. 111. Folio 16 has identical handwriting, with shades

Folio 17, recto, page 179: "this winter of the year 1510, I believe I shall finish all of this anatomy." original: "cet hiver de l’an mil 510, je crois achever toute cette anatomie."