LEONARDO DA VINCI - Ms. B

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Facsimile (Giunti, Florence 1990); ca. 1487-90; 23x16 cm

This manuscript originally contained 100 sheets, but was mutilated by Guglielmo Libri in the mid-nineteenth century, and now contains only 90. The missing folios, sold to Lord Ashburnham by Libri, were returned to the Institut de France in 1891. This is the oldest surviving original manuscript of Leonardo. It contains studies of military technology, centrally planned churches, projects for the "ideal city" and for the flying machine.

fols. 49v-50r: Sledge for use on mud and device for dredging ditches (top and centre left); flexible siege ladder (right).

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