Notebooks

'Study me reader, if you find delight in me...Come, O men, to see the miracles that such studies will disclose in nature.'Most of what we know about Leonardo da Vinci, we know because of his notebooks. Some 6,000 sheets of notes and drawings survive, which represent perhaps one-fifth of what he actually produced. In them he recorded everything that interested him in the world around him, and his study of how thingswork. With an artist's eye and a scientist's curiosity he studied the movement of water and the formation of rocks, the nature of flight and optics, anatomy, architecture, sculpture, and painting. He jotted down fables and letters and developed his belief in the sublime unity of nature and man.Through his notebooks we can get an insight into Leonardo's thoughts, and his approach to work and life.This selection offers a cross-section of his writings, organized around coherent themes. Fully updated, this new edition includes some 70 line drawings and a Preface by Martin Kemp, one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo.

Irma A. Richter was an artist, translator, and Leonardo scholar.
Thereza Wells is Head of Scientific Analysis at Universal Leonardo.
Martin Kemp is University Professor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford (Trinity College) and the author of The Oxford History of Western Art and Leonardo.