1 / 10
Photo 1/10 du lotPhoto 2/10 du lotPhoto 3/10 du lotPhoto 4/10 du lotPhoto 5/10 du lotPhoto 6/10 du lotPhoto 7/10 du lotPhoto 8/10 du lotPhoto 9/10 du lotPhoto 10/10 du lot
ALDE

138 - DIDEROT (Denis) and Jean Le Rond D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, o…
See original version (French)

Estimate €8,000 - €10,000
Sale commission
Description
DIDEROT (Denis) and Jean Le Rond D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, Briasson, David, Le Breton, Durand, then Neuchâtel, Faulche, 1751-1765. 17 vols. - Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques. Paris, Briasson et al, 1762-1772. 11 vols. 28 volumes in-folio, marbled calf, spine decorated, red edges (Binding of the period). First edition of this major contribution to the history of human thought and knowledge. Edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, it brings together texts by the leading minds of the 18th century: D'Holbach, Rousseau, Turgot and some two hundred other contributors... It contains a wealth of information and illustrations on technical, scientific and industrial subjects, as well as philosophical principles which, in 1752 and 1759, led to this work being condemned on two occasions. It was only completed thanks to the protection of Guillaume Lamoignon de Malesherbes and Marc-Pierre de Voyer d'Argenson, Secretary of State for War from 1743 to 1757, to whom it is dedicated. The text of this gigantic publishing venture was first printed in Paris between 1751 and 1757 by Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand, and then continued clandestinely under the false address of Faulche in Neuchâtel in 1765. The remarkably well-crafted plates were drawn and engraved in intaglio by the artists of the rue Saint-Jacques and the Huchette, and published in eleven volumes in Paris between 1762 and 1772. The illustration comprises 2,580 engraved plates (i.e. 2,288 single plates, 278 double plates, 12 triple plates and 2 quadruple plates), i.e. 2,888 plates according to the count used by the publishers. The work also includes a folding table. From the Lamotte d'Incamps library, with bookplate. Without the supplements (4 vol. of text, 1 vol. of plates and 2 vol. of table) published by other publishers in 1776-1780. The copy has been bound in two copies, with slightly different ornamentation for the vol. of plates IV to XI. The VIIIth is numbered IX on the spine by mistake. Tear with missing spine of vol. II of plates, accidents and slight missing parts in some volumes. One plate missing from the Agriculture section (Sucrerie II), as well as the general frontispiece of the Encyclopédie. Minor tears and slight loss of some plates. Adams, Diderot, G1 - Graesse, II, 389 - INED, n°1416 - Picot-Rothschild, III, n°2523 - Tchemerzine, II, 926-928 - En français dans le texte, n°156.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Antiquarian books from the 15th to the 19th century - Astronomy
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like