The codex was sold to Bill Gates by Christie's auction house on 11 November 1994 in New York for US$30,802,500. Until 2021, the codex remained the most expensive book ever sold.
Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is known to be an avid reader, and his home library is filled with rare books selected by a professional book dealer. In 1994, he purchased Leonardo da Vinci's "Codex Leicester," a manuscript that dates back to the 16th century.
Codex Atlanticus (1478-1519)
It includes content about weaponry, musical instruments, mathematics, botany, and more across 1,119 leaves of paper. The entire codex spans Da Vinci's career through Florence, Milan, Rome, and Paris. The physical copy is held in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy.
The Codex Hammer, also known as the Codex Leicester, is a coveted collector's item: named after the oil tycoon Armand Hammer, this treasure was acquired in 1994 by Bill Gates and is stored in the Bill Gates Collection in Seattle. The codex contains some indispensable texts for Leonardo research.
Instead his writings and drawings survived as notes, which he left to his loyal pupil Francesco Melzi. Some of these were in small bound books – the V&A in London has one on permanent display that fits in the palm of an adult hand – while others were on larger sheets that were bound or rebound after Leonardo's death.
There are eleven surviving manuscripts of his notes and drawings, amounting to thousands of pages.
It is estimated that da Vinci produced between 20,000 to 28,000 pages of notes and sketches spanning across 50 different notebooks about work related to whatever topics that interested him – painting, engineering, philosophy, warfare, engineering, physiology, landscape, proportion, perspective, geography, geology, ...
The codex was sold to Bill Gates by Christie's auction house on 11 November 1994 in New York for US$30,802,500. Until 2021, the codex remained the most expensive book ever sold.
Bill Gates purchased the Codex Leicester from Armand Hammer when it was housed in the Hammer Museum. FYI. There are other copies of the Gutenberg in private hands that are not listed in this article.
He wanted to share Leonardo's sense of wonder and curiosity with the world.
In a new profile on 60 Minutes, he opened up about an important personal inspiration and possession: one of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks. Called the Codex Leicester, Gates scooped up the notebook for $30.8 million in 1994, making it the most valuable manuscript in the world.
His notebooks contain diagrams, drawings, personal notes and observations, providing a unique insight into how he saw the world. Five of these incredible objects are in our collection.
It was likely purchased by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, via a proxy. The painting has not been seen publicly since the sale, and as of 2022 its whereabouts remained unknown.
Arguably the greatest collection of Leonardo da Vinci drawings in the world, owned by the Queen and normally kept away from public view at Windsor Castle, is to have its biggest public display.
Bill Gates' net worth is US$110 billion (AU$163 billion), and it turns out the Microsoft founder indirectly owns US$1.8 billion (AU$2.7 billion) worth of Apple shares.
TINDERA: So how much is the Codex worth today? If all we do is adjust the $30.8 million that Gates paid for it for inflation, that gets us to somewhere around $50 million today.
The Codex Leicester is possibly the most expensive book in the world. The book comprises Leonardo's thoughts and theories on various topics, from astronomy to the nature of water.
An Original Copy of US Constitution Sells for $43.2 Million, Becoming Most Expensive Document Ever Sold. MoMA board member Ken Griffin went well over asking for the document, beating out cryptocurrency enthusiasts who crowdfunded to purchase it.
Only 49 copies have survived to today. Out of some 180 original printed copies of the Gutenberg Bible, 49 still exist in library, university and museum collections. Less than half are complete, and some only consist of a single volume or even a few scattered pages.
Theories abound about why he did this: One simple explanation is that he was left-handed, and that writing this way didn't smudge. The codex now belongs to the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, who bought it at auction at Christie's in 1994 for $30.8 million.
We did a bit of math on that, and Gates could afford to pay US$13 to every single person on the planet — and he'd still be a billionaire. However, the guy apparently has no intention of doing that, and instead he hopes to do more good by giving the cash to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Mona Lisa is priceless. Any speculative price (some say over a billion dollars!) would probably be so high that not one person would be able or willing to purchase and maintain the painting. Moreover, the Louvre Museum would probably never sell it.
THE NATURE OF GENIUS
Genius takes many forms, and in Leonardo's case we recognize his limitations. He was defensive about his lack of formal education; he called himself "omo sanza lettere" (a man without letters).
Leonardo da Vinci was a prolific and inspired engineer, architect and director of opulent festivities for the French court. He died on 2 May 1519 in his room and was buried not far away in Saint Hubert chapel in the royal château of Amboise.