Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 144

LEONARDO DA VINCI (1452-1519) I manoscritti di Leonardo da Vinci della Reale biblioteca di Windsor: Dell'anatomia, fogli A[-B]. Edoardo Rouveyre and Roux e Viarengo 1898-1901 Vol. I: 202 pp., 34 plates (part fold.); Vol. II: 271 pp., 79 plates. Plates have guard sheets with descriptive letterpress and numbered outlines of the figures on the accompanying plate. 35.9 cm.

It is well known that Leonardo was one of the greatest artists and scientists of the Italian Renaissance. His contributions to science are numerous and include significant accomplishments in mechanics, physics, hydraulics, astronomy, anatomy, architecture, and civil engineering. As a result of his anatomical studies, he is considered to be the founder of physiological anatomy. After his death, his writings and drawings were forgotten for over two centuries and became scattered among private collectors, libraries, and archives throughout Europe. Thus very little remains of the anatomical drawings that Leonardo had intended eventually to become a treatise on anatomy. The greater part of his extant writings and drawings on anatomy were found at the Royal Library of Windsor Castle in the early 1700s; however, no drawings from the collection were published until 1796. The first effort to make the collection available to the public in facsimile was not made until 1898 when the first volume of this set, containing a transcription of Leonardo's text together with a French translation, was issued. The second volume was published in 1901; unfortunately both volumes contained numerous mistakes due to misunderstandings, ignorance of the subject, and the difficulty of interpreting Leonardo's very fine mirror handwriting.

Cited references: Choulant-Frank, pp. 99-105; Cushing L158; Garrison-Morton 364; Osler 514; Waller 9986