The Codex Atlanticus

[T] he material in the Codex Atlanticus embraces the whole career of Leonardo, for a period of over forty years, from 1478 when he was twenty-six years old up to his death in France in 1519.

It is the richest source of documentation for his contributions to mechanical science and mathematics, to astronomy, to physical geography, to botany, to chemistry and to anatomy.

Drawings of war tools, machines that fly or to go down into the depth of the seas, mechanical devices and machines together with architectural and urbanistic projects that Leonardo could not bring to conclusion: it provides the first studies for the urbanistic renewal in Milan to the large projects for the spectacular setup of the villa Melzi at Vaprio d'Adda and for a new palace for the Medici's in Florence, up to the ideas of a royal residence in Romorantin, in France, that foreshadows the palace of Versailles.

Buy the recording of his ideas it also provides a look into his thought processes through tales, philosophical reflections and personal memories.

In 1972 the Giunti Publishing Group with the publication of the Codex Atlanticus began a great publishing exercise, now completed, to provide a National Edition of all the Manuscripts and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

The spectacular and imposing corpus of pages and fragments that constitute the Codex Atlanticus represents a huge publishing enterprise because of the accurate reproduction in facsirnile of the volumes to the sumptuous binding in leather of the twelve volumes. A matching 12 volumes of transcripts edited by Augusto Marinoni, has helped to resolve the manifold of problems of interpretation of the texts and sketches of Leonardo with unprecedented scientific rigor. The transcripts also consider the calculations and the mathematical exercises, and therefore the treatment of physics and mechanics. The transcription volumes allow easier consultation, in which the text of Leonardo is introduced with the absolute fidelity through special typographic symbols which can be placed side by side with Leonardo's original making the language of Leonardo accessible to everybody, preserving the character and the style it and even the phonetic inflexions.

Restricted to the great libraries and institutes of research all over the world as well as to a few privileged bibliophiles, the full edition in facsimile, is in a limited edition of 998 almost exhausted copies. Now it is possible, through this new edition, to experience all of the information in the 12 volume facsimile edition in its three volumes.

A tool of indisputable usefulness not only for the researcher who can make immediate comparisons, but also a tool with which the rich and varied material is offered to the more casual viewer for their initial evaluation.