Bill Gate
The Codex Leicester (also briefly known as Codex Hammer) is a collection of famous scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci. The Codex is named after Thomas Coke, later created Earl of Leicester who purchased it in 1719. Of Leonardo’s 30 scientific journals, the Codex may be the most famous of all. The manuscript holds the record for the sale price of any book.
Leonardo da Vinci’s manuscript
In 1994, Bill Gates purchased Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester, a journal handwritten by the Italian genius from 1506 to 1510. He became the sole owner all for the low price of $30.8 million, making it the most expensive book ever sold.
Gates is reported to read roughly 50 books a year,
Gates didn’t just keep it for himself. He had the ancient text scanned into a digital format, and the pages were available as a screensaver on Windows 95. But most people probably didn’t know that because everyone used Flying Toasters as their screensaver instead.
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