"The great bird will take its first flight, on the back of its great swan, and filling the universe with stupor, filling all writings with its renown, and glory eternal to the nest where it was born. "
Codex on the Flight of Birds
On the Manuscripts (excerpted from Mechanical Investigations -Chapter VIII)

When da Vinci died at Amboise in the south of France,in 1519,he left a will bequeathing his manuscripts,instruments,paintings and sketches to the friend of his old age, Francesco Melzi, who was with him at his death.Melzi returned to his home in Milan, carrying this bequest with him. Here, in his villa at Vaprio, the manuscripts were guarded with tender and jealous care for the next fifty years. Melzi, however, died in 1570, and it is from this time onwards that the tragic dispersal of the manuscripts may be said to have taken place.Attempts which, during Melzi's lifetime, had been made to obtain access to the notebooks ( notably by Alphonso I of Ferrara and by Vasari, Leonardo's earliest biographer), and which had failed, were now renewed, this time with success.
Francesco's heirs were not interested in science, art, or letters, and when the family tutor, Lelio Gavardi di Asola, conceived� the idea of disposing of some thirteen volumes of the manuscripts, he met with little difficulty. However, the Grand Duke Francesco of Florence, to whom it was intended to sell these volumes, died at this juncture, and Lelio Gavardi took them instead to Pisa. Fortunately , the man whom he approached, Ambrosio Mazzenta, dissuaded Gavardi from pursuing his dishonest intentions, and the latter left the volumes with Mazzenta to be restored to the Melzi family.
Orazio Melzi, the rightful� owner, in his lack of interest, however, not only permitted Mazzenta to keep the volumes as a reward for his trouble, but told him further that he could help himself to any of the remaining bundles of matter lying about the attics at Vaprio.
Others, too, had heard of the spoils to be gathered in from these attics, and they readily availed themselves of Orazio's free invitations of "help yourself". Amongst those seeking to acquire Leonardo's manuscripts was Pompeo Leoni, a sculptor and friend of Philip II of Spain...

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Afterwards, most of the manuscripts are in France and� England;only few of them are in Italy.

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>List of some Leonardo's Manuscripts<
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�Manuscript Place Number of Pages�
A (Various Matters and Mechanics)Institute of� France�126
B ( War weapons and Architecture)"������������ "��168
C (Treatise on light and shadow)"������������ "�56
��� SKM II, III� ( Notebooks)S.K. Museum, London�492
�� W.P. ( Studies on Anatomy)Windsor19
���� W. M. (Letters)"��12
��� Mz. ( On the flight of Birds)Rome�26
������ C. A.( Codex Atlanticus)�Milan�1222

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