‘Leonardo da Vinci’

Nor is this book the very latest work on the Renaissance Master. In fact it was written by Kenneth Clark, and first published in 1939. It was revised and edited in 1959; there were further revisions in 1967, and again in 1988. With some emendations and a new introduction by Martin Kemp, the latest edition of this, the classic book on the life and works of Leonardo da Vinci was published only last year.

The photograph is of my copy, complete with slipcover, from the Folio Society that, from time to time, tempts me to order invaluable reference books at bargain-basement prices. The latest “apple” dangled before me was this superb edition plus an Oxford Dictionary of Art an Oxford Companion to Music — and a Times World Atlas and History of the World. Since the first consignment of reference books from the Society some seven or eight years ago gave the TT post delivery man a hernia, the Post Office insisted I collect this one myself.

You, however, need not get a hernia because you can buy a copy of this book in a soft cloth binding from all Nigel Khan Bookseller outlets.

Young artists should find the Master’s anatomical sketches of animals and parts of the human body of immense value.

Others with a bent for mechanics or natural science should be fascinated with the detailed drawings of a giant crossbow, his architectural drawings, studies of the flight of birds, of water.

Leonardo was a man interested in everything in the world about him — and recording what he saw in notebooks that survive to this day. If the book and the film of The Da Vinci Code have left you wanting to know more of the life and work of the multi-talented Leonardo da Vinci in fact rather than sensational fiction this is the book for you.

And if you want to know the true story of the Knights Templar The Monks of War by Desmond Seward traces their history from start to the time when Phillip IV, King of France, being short of cash, and seeing no further use for the Order, accused them of terrible crimes, brought them to trial — and, so it appears, made away with all their worldly goods. The Trial of the Templars by Malcolm Barber will tell you all you need to know about that.

You’ll have to order the books on the Templars; however, you’ll find Leonardo da Vinci by Kenneth Clark, revised, edited with the new introduction published only last year, at Nigel Khan Bookseller outlets in PricePlaza, Ellerslie Plaza, Gulf City and The Falls Westmall.