1570 the manuscripts were not properly cared for.[2] His son Orazio Melzi, who was a lawyer, inherited the manuscripts. He knew very little of Leonardo da Vinci and the manuscripts his father kept and therefore did not understand their value, so they laid neglected in his attic for years.[20] When Orazio died on his estate in Vaprio d'Adda, his heirs sold the collection of Leonardo's works, and thus began their dispersal.[18]