
Leonardo's Notebook Digitized in All Its Befuddling Glory - Lightning
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/02/leonardos-notebook-digitized-in-all-its-befuddling-glory/273042/
======
nullc
God forbid you want to save the data for personal archival or bulk digital
analysis. If they allowed that you might defeat the museums careful control
and curation of the data and potentially even use it in ways they don't agree
with!

:P

~~~
jaysonelliot
One of the greatest treasures of Western scholarship has been made available
for the public to view at their leisure, in such stunning high resolution that
you can zoom into the very grain of the paper.

Absolutely anyone with a web browser can instantly access what was once
available only to a select few scholars, and even then only under the least
convenient of circumstances.

A mere handful of years ago, the only way the average person would have even
seen one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks would be in a museum display,
assuming they knew of the display, had the wherewithal to visit, and the
resources to get there if it wasn't in their own city.

Now, the British Museum has made literally hundreds of priceless manuscripts,
from da Vinci to Beowulf, available to even the most casual reader who happens
to click on a link, thanks to their careful preservation, curation, and
digitization, all at no cost to the viewer.

What's the response? Complaining. "Yes, fine, but I wanted to _download_ it,
not just see it!"

Yup, this is the Internet, alright.

~~~
sgift
Complaining is the main source of progress. The British Museum wouldn't have
done this without anyone complaining. The British Museum wouldn't even exist
without anyone complaining "but we need to save all this knowledge ..." and so
on. People always lament the complaining but never praise it as the source of
progress it is.

------
sakopov
Here is the direct link to the manuscript:
[http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Arundel_MS...](http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Arundel_MS_263)

------
slavak
Did they really place a stamp of the British Museum on every page of this
priceless historical artifact? I'm not being facetious, I was honestly
surprised to see that.

~~~
bwooce
It appears so, that red stamp appears to be different every time it appears.

The clueless idiot that got their stamp pad out that day is probably long
retired or dead.

That big black stamp on page 2 doesn't look original either though, to be
fair."ex dono" = as gift.

------
namank
This is amazing, a big thanks to that museum!!

He wrote latin and that too right to left (that was drm) if that helps anyone
here. Of course, it's just easier to check out the commentary on than his
actual work.

------
joshuaheard
I visited the Da Vinci museum in Florence, Italy, and Da Vinci was far ahead
of his time, inventing the idea of the helicopter, bicycle, parachute, machine
gun, scuba, and many others. A true genius. Oh, he also painted the Mona Lisa,
probably the most famous painting of all time.

------
sheri
Anyone find any interesting pages? Page f.39v has a nice drawing of what
appears to be a bug?

------
davidw
It'd be neat if you could reverse the pages so as to attempt to read what he'd
written, even though it must be a fairly archaic form of Italian.

------
rtpg
I really find it amazing how clean his writing is. It makes me wonder whether
I shouldn't apply myself more often in my own notes...

------
willvarfar
Are there any annotated versions? With the translation overlayable, in-place?
Perhaps on mouse-over?

------
leoh
So cool. It could be really fun way to learn to draw by attempting to sketch
his figures.

