World Libraries: Leonardo da Vinci’s unknown manuscript unearthed

A coded manuscript by Leonardo da Vinci which was had been left untouched for 130 years has been discovered in a public library in the French city of Nantes. The rarity was found among items donated by a rich collector Pierre-Antoine Labouchere back in 1872.

The document was found after a journalist came across a reference to it in a Leonardo biography.

The text is written from right to left in Leonardo's mirror-writing. He was most probably writing in Italian from the 15th century and possibly in other languages. So it’s now got to be deciphered by specialists.

This manuscript has become the second major find at the library of Nantes. In 2008 an original score by composer genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was also discovered among other possessions belonging to the same collector, Pierre-Antoine Labouchere.

Both documents were among 5 000 manuscripts donated by a wealthy collector Pierre-Antoine Labouchere to the library of Nantes in 1872.