Diderot, Denis and Jean Le Rond D’Alembert, editors | The Encyclopédie; one of the most ambitious intellectual undertakings of the Enlightenment

Diderot, Denis and Jean Le Rond D’Alembert (editors)

Encyclopedie, ou dictionnaire raisonne des science, des arts et des metiers, par une societe de gens de lettres (volumes I-XVII). — Nouveau dictionnaire, pour servir de supplement aux dictionnaires des sciences, des arts et des metiers, par une societe de gens de lettres (volumes l-IV). — Recueil de planches sur les sciences, les arts liberaux, et les arts mechaniques, avec leur explication (volumes l-XII). — Table ... des matieres ... du dictionnaire des sciences, des arts et des metiers, et dans son supplement (volumes Ml). Paris: Briasson, David l'âiné, Le Breton, Durand, 1761-1780

35 volumes, folio (ca 400 x 254 mm). Encyclopedie: One engraved frontispiece and title-page with engraved vignette in vol. 1, 2 engraved folding plates (vols. 1 & 8), numerous text illustrations throughout; a few minor tears, some minor worming, occasional foxing and browning. Supplément: Engraved title-page vignette in vol. 1, 5 engraved folding plates (vols. 1-3), numerous text illustrations; a few minor tears and paper flaws, chiefly marginal, occasional browning and slight staining. Planches: Approximately 2,600 engraved plates including one engraved frontispiece in vol. 12, engraved title-page vignette in volume 1. The number of plates given on the title-pages totals 3,132 because double, triple, or quadruple folding plates are counted as 2, 3 or 4; very minor browning, scattered foxing. Table: One small tear in quadruple folding plate. Uniformly bound in contemporary French mottled calf, gilt spine labels in various colors of morocco; slightly rubbed, very discrete repairs to edges of a few spines, several corners a little bumped.

First edition, a fine set with fine impressions of the plates. "A monument in the history of European thought; the acme of the age of reason; a prime motive force in undermining the ancien régime and in heralding the French Revolution; a permanent source for all aspects of eighteenth century civilization" (PMM). Diderot and D'Alembert wrote the majority of the 71,818 entries, with contributions from other great contemporary lights of the age such as Buffon, Condorcet, Montesquieu, Necker, Rousseau, and Voltaire. The work had the "widespread effect in establishing uniformity of terminology, concept, and procedure in all fields of science and technology"

 "One of Diderot's most frequently expressed aims in the Encyclopédie was to make the reader realize -- despite long-standing prejudices -- that the manual arts were a category of universal knowledge just as noble, valuable, and intellectually respectable as the liberal arts and the sciences ... Everywhere throughout the work, we find expressions of confidence that the practical arts, the spirit of invention, and the improvement of mechanical technology were keys to material progress, which in turn would contribute to intellectual and moral progress and the happiness of mankind ... The Encyclopédie was a historical event, and Diderot's conception of the importance of the arts, artisans, trades, machines and inventions became a landmark in the development of modern Western attitudes towards technology" (Lough). With over 71,818 entries, the majority of which written by the editors Diderot and d'Alembert and Baron d'Holbach, the Encyclopédie was one of the most ambitious intellectual undertakings of the Enlightenment. Great figures were drawn to the possibilities of such a project, and included Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Buffon, Marmontel, Condorcet, Necker and Turgot.  This set with the preferred first editions of the plates; that is, without any plate volumes from the less desirable Geneva re-issue. The collation of sets of the Encyclopédie is notoriously difficult due to the complicated counting of the plates on the lists of plates in each volume, with double, triple or quadruple folding plates counted twice, thrice or more.

REFERENCES

Grolier/Horblit 25b; Norman 637; PMM 200

PROVENANCE

Loosely inserted in vol. 1 is an ALS in French by an unknown author (with a postscript signed by a Catherine d'Achilley?), late 18th/early 19th century, sharing family news and referring to the French Revolution and hardships in its aftermath — A California Private Collection (Sotheby's New York, 20 May 2002, lot 49)