Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia
 


Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia

The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 




The Encyclopedia, also known as the Encyclopédie, is a monumental masterpiece published in France during the 18th century. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and became one of the most important and influential works of the Age of Enlightenment.

Its ambitious goal was to gather and organize all human knowledge - philosophy, science, art, politics, economics, religion - and to include critical reflections on the society and politics of its time.

Diderot and D'Alembert surrounded themselves with more than 150 collaborators, enlisting the most prestigious writers and philosophers, artists and craftsmen, physicians and scientists of their day, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, D'Holbach, Condorcet, Buffon, Turgot, Necker, Tronchin, the watchmaker Berthoud, and many others.

The French authorities considered the work subversive and attempted to censor and ban it on several occasions.

The core of the work consists of 28 volumes: 17 volumes of articles, published between 1751 and 1765, and 11 volumes of illustrations, published between 1762 and 1772.

Subsequently, between 1776 and 1777, five supplemental volumes were issued (four of text and one of illustrations), and in 1780, two index volumes were added, bringing the total to 35 volumes. The original editors did not participate in the creation of these later volumes.

Despite its considerable subscription price, the Encyclopédie was a resounding success, leading to reprints and unauthorized editions in Geneva, Lucca, Livorno, and other cities.


Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia, also known as the Encyclopédie, is a monumental masterpiece published in France during the 18th century. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and became one of the most important and influential works of the Age of Enlightenment.

Its ambitious goal was to gather and organize all human knowledge - philosophy, science, art, politics, economics, religion - and to include critical reflections on the society and politics of its time.

Diderot and D'Alembert surrounded themselves with more than 150 collaborators, enlisting the most prestigious writers and philosophers, artists and craftsmen, physicians and scientists of their day, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, D'Holbach, Condorcet, Buffon, Turgot, Necker, Tronchin, the watchmaker Berthoud, and many others.

The French authorities considered the work subversive and attempted to censor and ban it on several occasions.

The core of the work consists of 28 volumes: 17 volumes of articles, published between 1751 and 1765, and 11 volumes of illustrations, published between 1762 and 1772.

Subsequently, between 1776 and 1777, five supplemental volumes were issued (four of text and one of illustrations), and in 1780, two index volumes were added, bringing the total to 35 volumes. The original editors did not participate in the creation of these later volumes.

Despite its considerable subscription price, the Encyclopédie was a resounding success, leading to reprints and unauthorized editions in Geneva, Lucca, Livorno, and other cities.




Descripcion

Description

Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia

The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 


We present here an original first edition of the Encyclopédie by Diderot and D'Alembert; it is the rarest and by far the most historically significant.

This original edition consists of 33 volumes (all first edition and complete): the 28 volumes that constitute the main body of the Encyclopédie (17 volumes of articles and 11 volumes of plates) and the 5 Suppléments volumes.

All volumes are complete; the work includes all 3,129 plates from the edition.

The first volume contains the emblematic frontispiece drawn by Cochin.

Volumes I to VII were published in Paris from 1751 to 1757 by Le Breton, Briasson, David l?Aîné, and Durand. The spines of these seven volumes are decorated with pomegranate-shaped tools and have marbled endpapers. All other volumes feature a spine decorated with a compass rose, framed by four ribbon tools; the endpapers are in ochre paper. The fore-edges of all volumes are colored red.

Volume I includes the fold-out plate titled "Système figuré des connaissances humaines" (A Figurative System of Human Knowledge), and a highly exceptional inserted folio on page 762, for the article Asple, with the note: "Remove the article Asple in its entirety and replace it with the following..."

These first seven volumes, in which Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu participated alongside Diderot and D'Alembert, were prohibited by the royal censor and placed on the Index by Rome, causing the publication to be halted for eight years.

Volumes VIII to XVII were printed clandestinely in Paris by Le Breton, under the false imprint of Samuel Faulche in Neuchâtel; they bear the date 1765.

Volume XIII includes the "Table for Finding the Divisors of Numbers up to 100,000", placed at the end of the volume and paginated from 1 to 34.

The four supplement text volumes were edited by Rey in Amsterdam, under the direction of J. B. Robinet, between 1776 and 1777.

The first eleven volumes of plates were published from 1762 to 1772 by the associated booksellers of Paris. The supplement volume of plates, or twelfth volume, titled Suite du Recueil de planches, was published by Panckoucke, Stoupe, and Brunet in Paris, and Rey in Amsterdam, in 1777.

The 3,129 copper-engraved plates, mostly fold-out, are preserved in good condition. 
 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

* Original work
* First edition. Paris, Amsterdam, 1751?1777
* Title: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une Société de gens de lettres. Mis en ordre et publié par M. Diderot, de l?Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles-Lettres de Prusse; et quant à la Partie Mathématique, par M. D?Alembert, de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris, de celle de Prusse, et de la Société Royale de Londres.

Encyclopedia, or Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts, by a Society of Men of Letters. Compiled and published by Mr. Diderot, of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of Prussia; and as regards the mathematical section, by Mr. D?Alembert, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, of that of Prussia, and of the Royal Society of London.

* Authors: Diderot, D'Alembert, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, D'Holbach, Condorcet, Buffon, Turgot, etc.
* Publisher: Le Breton and others
* 33 volumes: 17 of articles (published between 1751 and 1765), 11 of illustrations (published between 1762 and 1772), and 5 of supplements (published between 1776 and 1777)
* 3,129 plates
* Size: ± 410 × 270 mm
* Original calf leather binding

 



Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia

Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 
Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopedia  The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 

The Masterpiece of the Age of Enlightenment 

Description

We present here an original first edition of the Encyclopédie by Diderot and D'Alembert; it is the rarest and by far the most historically significant.

This original edition consists of 33 volumes (all first edition and complete): the 28 volumes that constitute the main body of the Encyclopédie (17 volumes of articles and 11 volumes of plates) and the 5 Suppléments volumes.

All volumes are complete; the work includes all 3,129 plates from the edition.

The first volume contains the emblematic frontispiece drawn by Cochin.

Volumes I to VII were published in Paris from 1751 to 1757 by Le Breton, Briasson, David l?Aîné, and Durand. The spines of these seven volumes are decorated with pomegranate-shaped tools and have marbled endpapers. All other volumes feature a spine decorated with a compass rose, framed by four ribbon tools; the endpapers are in ochre paper. The fore-edges of all volumes are colored red.

Volume I includes the fold-out plate titled "Système figuré des connaissances humaines" (A Figurative System of Human Knowledge), and a highly exceptional inserted folio on page 762, for the article Asple, with the note: "Remove the article Asple in its entirety and replace it with the following..."

These first seven volumes, in which Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu participated alongside Diderot and D'Alembert, were prohibited by the royal censor and placed on the Index by Rome, causing the publication to be halted for eight years.

Volumes VIII to XVII were printed clandestinely in Paris by Le Breton, under the false imprint of Samuel Faulche in Neuchâtel; they bear the date 1765.

Volume XIII includes the "Table for Finding the Divisors of Numbers up to 100,000", placed at the end of the volume and paginated from 1 to 34.

The four supplement text volumes were edited by Rey in Amsterdam, under the direction of J. B. Robinet, between 1776 and 1777.

The first eleven volumes of plates were published from 1762 to 1772 by the associated booksellers of Paris. The supplement volume of plates, or twelfth volume, titled Suite du Recueil de planches, was published by Panckoucke, Stoupe, and Brunet in Paris, and Rey in Amsterdam, in 1777.

The 3,129 copper-engraved plates, mostly fold-out, are preserved in good condition. 
 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

* Original work
* First edition. Paris, Amsterdam, 1751?1777
* Title: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une Société de gens de lettres. Mis en ordre et publié par M. Diderot, de l?Académie Royale des Sciences et des Belles-Lettres de Prusse; et quant à la Partie Mathématique, par M. D?Alembert, de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris, de celle de Prusse, et de la Société Royale de Londres.

Encyclopedia, or Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts, by a Society of Men of Letters. Compiled and published by Mr. Diderot, of the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of Prussia; and as regards the mathematical section, by Mr. D?Alembert, of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Paris, of that of Prussia, and of the Royal Society of London.

* Authors: Diderot, D'Alembert, Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, D'Holbach, Condorcet, Buffon, Turgot, etc.
* Publisher: Le Breton and others
* 33 volumes: 17 of articles (published between 1751 and 1765), 11 of illustrations (published between 1762 and 1772), and 5 of supplements (published between 1776 and 1777)
* 3,129 plates
* Size: ± 410 × 270 mm
* Original calf leather binding

 

Pictures

Details

The Encyclopedia, also known as the Encyclopédie, is a monumental masterpiece published in France during the 18th century. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, and became one of the most important and influential works of the Age of Enlightenment.

Its ambitious goal was to gather and organize all human knowledge - philosophy, science, art, politics, economics, religion - and to include critical reflections on the society and politics of its time.

Diderot and D'Alembert surrounded themselves with more than 150 collaborators, enlisting the most prestigious writers and philosophers, artists and craftsmen, physicians and scientists of their day, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu, D'Holbach, Condorcet, Buffon, Turgot, Necker, Tronchin, the watchmaker Berthoud, and many others.

The French authorities considered the work subversive and attempted to censor and ban it on several occasions.

The core of the work consists of 28 volumes: 17 volumes of articles, published between 1751 and 1765, and 11 volumes of illustrations, published between 1762 and 1772.

Subsequently, between 1776 and 1777, five supplemental volumes were issued (four of text and one of illustrations), and in 1780, two index volumes were added, bringing the total to 35 volumes. The original editors did not participate in the creation of these later volumes.

Despite its considerable subscription price, the Encyclopédie was a resounding success, leading to reprints and unauthorized editions in Geneva, Lucca, Livorno, and other cities.

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