INTRODUCTION

This Codex In the notes to this introduction, the references to sheets not preceded by a different indication should be understood as referring to the sheets of the Leicester manuscript. is, among the currently known manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci, the most notable document of the work which the genius, gathering from innumerable notes and recollections Leonardo called this book “ricordi”(recollections), on sheet 25 r. the scattered materials which could go to make up a Treatise, reviewing the topics dealt with, enriching them with new observations, multiplying and developing his ideas as he went, he was preparing to draw from the notes he had accumulated Cf. Leonardo’s many references to his “book A” (sheet 13 r., 14 r., 15 r., 16 r., 19 r., 21 r., 24 r., 28 v.; cf. Atlantic Codex., sheet 267 r.-a, above a figure: “copied in . A”) and to “notebooks”, which we must presume his (sheet 26 r.); and see note 12 on pg. 14. and from his inexorable treasure of real experience an “opra ordinata” cf. sheet 2 v.: “I’ lascerò qui stare le prove, le quali si faran poi nell’opra ordinata, e attenderò solamente a trovare casi e invenzioni, e le metterò successivamente secondo che le vengano, e poi darò ordine, mettendo insieme quelle d’un medesimo genere; sì che per ora non ti maraviglierai né riderai di me, lettore, se qui si fa sì gran salti da materia a materia”. (I shall leave aside the proof here, which I shall give in the completed work, and I shall aim only to find cases and inventions, and subsequently I shall include them as they arise, and later I shall order them, putting together the ones on the same subject; so that now, do not wonder or make jest of me, reader, if here I should jump from one question to another). This passage, and another, on the following page (“Qui seguirò, e farò un poco di discorso del trovare le acque, benché paia alquanto fori del nostro ordine, e po’ le metterò per ordine alli lor lochi nel distendere dell’opra”[Here, I shall continue, and shall speak a little of finding water, although it may seem irrelevant to our subject, and then I shall put it in order, in its right place, in laying out the work] (3 r.), offer a singular analogy with the note on sheet 1 recto of the Arundel Codex (a codex which now, as we know, proves composed of notebooks and sheets belonging to various periods in the life of Leonardo): “Cominciato (add) in Firenze, in casa Piero di Braccio Martelli, addì 22 di Marzo 1508: e questo fia un raccolto sanza ordine, tratto di molte carte, le quale io ho qui copiate sperando poi di metterle per ordine alli lochi loro, secondo le materie di che esse tratteranno; e credo che, avanti ch’io sia al fine di questo, io ci arò a riplicare una medesima cosa più volte, sì che, lettore, non mi biasimare, perché le cose son molte e la memoria non le po riservare e dire: questa non voglio scrivere (al), perché dinanzi la scrissi; e s’io non volessi cadere in tale errore, sarebbe necessario che, per ogni caso, ch’io ci volessi copiare su, che, per non replicarlo, io avessi sempre a rileggere tutto il passato, e massime stando con lunghi intervalli di tempo allo scrivere da una volta a un’altra”. [ Begun (on the day) in Florence, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli on the day of 22 of March 1508; and this is an unordered collection, taken from many papers, which I have copied here hoping to put them in order , in their right place, according to the subjects they address; and I believe that ‘ere I finish this, I shall have written the same thing in various places, so that, dear reader, do not blame me because the things are many and the memory cannot hold them all and say; I shall not write this now because I wrote it before ; and if I wanted to avoid such error every time I wanted to copy something out I would have to read everything I had already written so as not to repeat it , and I should waste a lot of time between writing one thing and the next]. As may be observed by those studying the Leicester manuscript or comparing the analytical index of the subjects therein contained, the repetition of “the same thing” occurs once, twice, three times or “various times”: and this fact coincides strangely with the note copied here from the Arundel Codex; indeed is such as to suppose that Leonardo made such introductory justification to the “unordered collection” freshly begun, having realised that, in the compilation of the Leicester manuscript, in no way had he been able to avoid the defect for which he apologised. Sheets 2 recto and 3 verso of the Leicester manuscript, containing the passages mentioned, are deemed (for reasons which will be considered below) to be the last of the Codex time-wise; and thus, probably approaching the date when the Arundel Codex was begun, would give a clearer reason for the correspondence of the fragments now mentioned. This makes us realise that neither this similarity nor the priority which must be given to the Leicester manuscript, may justify forgetting how this codex, unlike the Arundel Codex (which we judge according to the excerpt given in the first sheets), answers a specific theme, gathers together subjects which are, compared to the latter, homogenous (such, that is, as to be gathered together under Leonardo’s title “ of waters” or, if one wishes, under the broader title “de mundo e acque” (cf. ms. F, Sheet 69 v.), since the discussion of the causes of moonlight is in strict relation to the “prospettiva delli specchiamenti delle acque” [perspective of the reflections of water] (cf. Atlantic Codex, Sheet 74 v.-a), and the theories outlined regarding the origin of fossils and the modifications of the earthly landscape are related to the places occupied in ancient times by the sea and to the continual changes produced by the flow of water); and he does not merely assemble them, but already starts on an ordered distribution of them. for each of the sections of the scientific encyclopaedia which he seems to have applied himself to. In a more comprehensive manner than the others, this notebook shows