In 1994, the Microsoft founder paid for the manuscript at a Christie’s auction. That’s roughly $500,000 per page. At the time, it was the most expensive book ever sold. (Gates later had it scanned into a digital format for Windows 95 CD-ROMs—a perfect marriage of Renaissance curiosity and digital futurism). Water: The Star of the Show What did Leonardo obsess over in these 72 pages? Water.
Leonardo said: No.
Leonardo was left-handed, and it’s believed he wrote this way to avoid smudging wet ink as his hand dragged across the page. To read it, you literally have to hold the page up to a mirror. the codex leicester
When we think of Leonardo da Vinci, we usually picture the Mona Lisa ’s enigmatic smile or the perfect proportions of the Vitruvian Man . We see the artist, the ultimate Renaissance man of beauty and grace. In 1994, the Microsoft founder paid for the
And it just so happens to be one of the most expensive books on planet Earth. Despite the fancy name, this isn't a dusty medieval poem. It is a 72-page scientific notebook written entirely by Leonardo between 1506 and 1510. It is a firehose of genius, covering geology, astronomy, optics, hydrodynamics, and paleontology. (Gates later had it scanned into a digital
And 500 years later, we are still listening. Have you ever tried mirror-writing? Would you pay $30 million for a used notebook? Let me know in the comments below!
It adds a layer of mystery. You feel like you are decoding a secret message from a time traveler. We live in the age of specialization. You are a "doctor" or a "lawyer" or a "programmer." Leonardo hated that. The Codex Leicester is a manifesto for generalists.