Codex Arundel
British Museum / British Library — Arundel MSS. 263
Begun at Florence, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli, on the 22nd day of March 1508. And this is to be a collection without order, taken from many papers which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they may treat.
— Leonardo da Vinci, opening lines of Codex Arundel
Overview
The Codex Arundel is not an original notebook but rather a collection of sheets from various dismembered notebooks of Leonardo, totaling 283 folios. It was named after the Earl of Arundel, who acquired it in Spain around 1636, and was bequeathed to the Royal Society and eventually transferred to the British Museum (now British Library) in 1831.
Researches in physics (especially mechanics) and mathematics (optics and Euclidean geometry) predominate in this collection. It also includes architectural and territorial studies, such as those conducted in France for the project of the Royal Residence of François I at Romorantin.
Historical Significance
This codex contains one of the most famous passages in all of Leonardo's writings — the introductory note dated March 22, 1508, in which he describes his method of composition and acknowledges the disordered nature of his manuscripts. This passage has become the defining statement of Leonardo's working method.
Certain pages in the volume appear to be of a much earlier date than this introductory sentence, and the whole body of the manuscripts extends over a period of some forty years, from Leonardo's early manhood to his old age. He commenced them during the time of his first residence in Florence, and was still adding to them when at Amboise.
Contents
The contents of this "collection without order" are extraordinarily diverse. In addition to numerous fragments of letters, personal records, notes relating to his work as an artist, and fragments of imaginative composition, it presents the most complete record of Leonardo's mental activity — extending into practically all avenues of human knowledge.
Key Subjects
- Mathematics and Euclidean Geometry
- Optics and the study of light
- Physics — especially mechanics
- Architectural studies and town planning
- Studies for the Royal Residence at Romorantin
- Personal notes and reflections
- The famous March 1508 introduction
Read the Manuscripts Side-by-Side
Use the interactive viewer to read each passage with folio reference, translation, footnotes, and -D commentary side by side.
Open Manuscript Viewer →Selected Passages from the Codex Arundel
How by a certain machine many may stay some time under water. And how and wherefore I do not describe my method of remaining under water and how long I can remain without eating. And I do not publish nor divulge these, by reason of the evil nature of men, who would use them for assassinations at the bottom of the sea by destroying ships, and sinking them, together with the men in them. Nevertheless I will impart others, which are not dangerous because the mouth of the tube through which you breathe is above the water, supported on air sacks or cork.
When you put together the science of the motions of water, remember to include under each proposition its application and use, in order that this science may not be useless.
Let no man who is not a Mathematician read the elements of my work.
Begun at Florence, in the house of Piero di Braccio Martelli, on the 22nd day of March 1508. And this is to be a collection without order, taken from many papers which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they may treat. But I believe that before I am at the end of this I shall have to repeat the same things several times; for which, O reader! do not blame me, for the subjects are many and memory cannot retain them and say: 'I will not write this because I wrote it before.' And if I wished to avoid falling into this fault, it would be necessary in every case when I wanted to copy a passage that, not to repeat myself, I should read over all that had gone before; and all the more since the intervals are long between one time of writing and the next.
Of digging a canal. Put this in the Book of useful inventions and in proving them bring forward the propositions already proved. And this is the proper order; since if you wished to show the usefulness of any plan you would be obliged again to devise new machines to prove its utility and thus would confuse the order of the forty Books and also the order of the diagrams; that is to say you would have to mix up practice with theory, which would produce a confused and incoherent work.
The Book of the science of Mechanics must precede the Book of useful inventions. — Have your books on anatomy bound!
Continue Exploring
← All Notebooks · Codex Atlanticus → · Richter Translations
Translations primarily from Jean Paul Richter’s “The Literary Works of Leonardo da Vinci” (1883).
Commentary marked with — D by the site author.