The admiration for the Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci it has only increased over the centuries. Proof of this is the price for which one of his most famous manuscripts was sold: The Leicester Codex of Leonardo da Vinci, the most expensive book in the world . Join us to find out what this unique issue contains and who its current owner is.
The Leicester Codex by Leonardo Da Vinci
The Codex or Leicester Codex is a document that gathers texts and drawings made by Leonardo da Vinci between 1508 and 1510. It consists of 18 sheets of paper each of them folded in half and written on both sides, which gives a total of 72 pages where there are 360 illustrations and drawings . It is written by hand by Leonardo himself and in Italian. One of the main curiosities of the document is that it presents the characteristic mirror writing that Leonardo used .
The Leicester Codex deals with a variety of topics and intermingles observations and theories. The most widely treated matter is the movement of water and especially the flow of rivers and the obstacles that impede it, which leads to a series of recommendations when building bridges and avoiding erosion. It also explains the existence of marine fossils in the mountains, anticipating the theory of the movement of tectonic plates since it thought that the mountains in the antiquity had been marine beds that were raised of gradual way until conforming the mountains.
To death of Leonardo , the Codex Leicester was not in the hands of Francesco Melzi like most of his legacy, but he was in possession of Milanese sculptor Della Porta and at his death he was among his papers until the Italian painter Giuseppe Ghezzi discovered it between them more than a century later. Past time, Ghezzi sold it to Thomas Coke, Count of Leicester , from which it takes the name. The descendants of the Count of Leicester kept it for more than two and a half centuries and in 1980 they took it to auction, being bought by the American businessman Armand Hammer . Hence, sometimes the Codex Leicester as Codex Hammer. In 1994 it was bought at a Christie's auction by Bill Gates . He paid for it record amount of 30'8 million dollars .
Bill Gates wanted the Leicester Codex to be seen all over the world and turned its sheets into screensavers for Windows 95. It has also allowed it to be displayed in many different places in the world. The next place where you can see will be from October 2018 in the Uffizi Gallery from Florence in a great exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci.
Note: Some specialists point out that the most expensive book in the world is the Bay Psalm Book that was sold for 10.5 million euros since they consider that the Leicester Codex is not a book proper, but a document. Other scholars do qualify it as a book. In any case, the Leicester Codex paid the highest amount ever paid for a book or manuscript.