Da Vinci, Leonardo | First complete facsimile of Da Vinci's largest codex, one of 280 copies

Da Vinci, Leonardo

Il Codice Atlantico di Leonardo da Vinci nella Biblioteca Ambrosiana di Milano. Riprodotto e Pubblicato della Rgia Accademia dei Lincei...Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1894-1904

4 volumes in 6, folio (521 x 381 mm). Half-title, general title dated 1891, 4 section titles (i.e. 2 for text, 2 for plates), 1382 (of 1384) heliogravure plates, printed recto and verso of 691 (of 692 sheets); lacks plate CCLIII/CCLIV. Unbound as issued. Housed in later blue boxes.

First complete facsimile of Da Vinci's largest codex, one of 280 copies

Located in the Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, this collection of Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings and manuscripts is comprised of 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519. The largest such codex, the contents cover a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry to musical instruments to mathematics and botany. This facsimile, begun in 1891 and not completed until 1904, reproduces the entire codex in heliogravure, printed on hand-made paper, and with both literal and modern transcriptions of Leonardo's text. Published in 35 parts, it is often found incomplete.