Leonardo's Codices
These Codices deal with different topics but probably
represent the most evident extremes of Leonardo’s multiform thirst
for knowledge.
Codex Trivulzianus and Codex “on Flight of Birds” are
now collected up in one volume. When in Italy people tented to integrally publish
the Leonardo’s manuscripts, these Codices were the first to be printed
in a facsimile copy. Until this time, the scholars preferred to put them in
order by topics and decontextualize a specific material in order to create
publications with an apparent homogeneous content, for example the Treatise
on Painting.
Codex on the Flight of Birds:
This Codex is being held in the Royal Library of Turin and it is composed
by 17 pages (21x15 cm) compared to the 18 pages that may be dated approximately
to 1505.
Leonardo made "the flight of birds" the basis for his mechanical
approach and he studied the function of the wing, the air resistance, the winds
and the currents.
The Codex On the Flight of Birds was written by Leonardo
in 1505 and the complicated and fantastic events are related by Giovanni PIumati
and Enrico Carusi in the pages before the reproduction of the tables. It is
essentially a treatise which deals with the watching of birds flight in order
to realize the human flight; flying was one of the greatest dream of the ancient
man. The edition that we have published, thanks to the Russian Patron
Teodoro Sabachnikoff, uses the critic transcription of Giovanni Piumati. The
work, printed in 1893 in Paris, is extraordinary for the great care of the
text and for the quality of the reproductions. The “missing sheets” are
now rejoined to the original manuscript in the Royal Library of Turin and they
were transcribed by Enrico Carusi, who was the author of Leonardo da Vinci’s
voice in the Italian Encyclopaedia which was founded by Giovanni Treccani.
Codex Trivulzianus:
Since the second half of XVIII century, the Codex Trivulzianus is being
held in the Trivulziana Library of the Sforzesco Castle of Milan.
It is composed by a manuscript of 55 papers (20.5*14 cm) but originally it
was composed by 62 papers.
There are several pages which refer to military and religious architecture
studies of Leonardo and also to his self-teaching studies aimed at improving
his literary education.
This code was drawn up by Leonardo between 1485 and 1490.
It is unique compared to the others Leonardo’s Codices and it has a peculiarity:
51 tables, more than half of 94 reproducible tables, are composed by lists
of Latinism. Often, but not always, there is written also the mean of these
words that Leonardo transcribed from books that he was reading. Leonardo wrote
the mean of some words also in other manuscripts, for example in Codex Atlanticus.
Only in the Codex Trivulzianus this activity seems to be a program and some
scholars, Giovi in particular, believed that he thought about a kind
of a Vulgar Italian vocabulary.
There are also other pages with some sketches which develop military engineering
and architectonic topics, above all studies for the Milan Dome Cladding. Our
edition is very prestigious and it was printed in 1891 in Milan.
n°1 Volume
582
Pages
130
Drawings (facsimile of the original drawings)
Their
size is 35 x 50 cm. and they are printed on a special paper: “Dali” suede
of Poliedra paper mill. They are hand-bound by “L’Arte del
Libro” and their selected leather covers have impressions of pure
gold
Each
volume may be provided with a precious wood case
To the other Codices
Visit Trec International site
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