This four-volume set investigates the scientific significance and historical legacy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester. The authors, Domenico Laurenza and Martin Kemp, utilize a comprehensive scholarly framework to present the original manuscript alongside modern transcriptions, translations, and critical commentary. By situating Leonardo’s observations on water, astronomy, and geology within the context of ancient and medieval intellectual traditions, the work establishes a new foundation for understanding his long-term influence on scientific thought.

Experts recognize this edition as a definitive scholarly resource for the study of Leonardo’s scientific manuscripts. The depth of the commentary and the inclusion of historical context make it a foundational text for researchers and historians of science.