Paulet - L'Art du Fabriquant d'Étoffes de Soie - 1783

ART THAT MADE EUROPE RICH: THE SECRETS OF SILK REVEALED IN DIDEROT'S ENCYCLOPEDIA
Fascinating and uncommon technical treatise devoted to silk manufacturing, published in 1783 and drawn from the monumental project of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopedia. The work constitutes one of the most detailed eighteenth-century descriptions of the art of silk, illustrating with extraordinary precision every stage of the work: from silkworm breeding to throwing, from twisting of the threads to weaving of the precious fabrics destined for European courts. Particularly notable is the rich iconographic apparatus consisting of large folded engraved plates depicting machines, looms, tools, and workshops with almost engineering-like rigor. It is a valuable testimony of the Enlightenment applied to the arts and trades, when technical knowledge was regarded as universal heritage to be preserved and disseminated.
MARKET VALUE
Works drawn from the famous series "Description des Arts et Métiers" and from the Encyclopedia dedicated to textile manufacturies are highly sought after by collectors of the history of technique, fashion, industry, and preindustrial economy. Complete copies of the original plates are typically sold between 500 and 1,500 euros, with higher values for particularly pristine copies or for contemporaneous bindings of quality.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Nineteenth-century half-leather binding in Bordeaux red with gilt title on the spine. Numerous large fold-out copper-engraved plates out of text depicting looms, machinery, mechanical organs, spinning tools, workshops, and structural sections. Paper with some natural foxing and modest signs of use. In old books, with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (4); 6nn; 50; 228; (4). First and second sections on the art of textiles, drawn from the broad plate collection of the Encyclopédie.

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
L'Art du Fabriquant d'Étoffes de Soie.
Paris, Saillant & Nyon, Veuve Desaint, 1783.
Paulet.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
In the eighteenth century silk represented one of the most important economic sectors in Europe. The silk manufactories of Lyon, Nîmes, Tours, Venice, Lucca, and Genoa fed an international trade involving nobility, courts, and great merchants. This work fits into the most ambitious cultural project of French Enlightenment: to document scientifically all arts, trades, and production techniques then known. The author describes with extreme precision the operations required to transform the silkworm cocoon into finished fabric, illustrating production processes that for centuries had been transmitted almost exclusively within artisan guilds. The magnificent engraved plates are today a fundamental iconographic source for the study of preindustrial textile technology.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Paulet was a specialized technician and entrepreneur active in the city of Nîmes, an important French manufacturing center in the eighteenth century. His practical expertise in silk processing enabled him to draft one of the most complete technical manuals dedicated to silk production. His contribution fully embodies the Enlightenment spirit of spreading technical and scientific knowledge.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Published in Paris in 1783 by the publishers Saillant & Nyon and by Veuve Desaint, the work belongs to the vast corpus of Description des Arts et Métiers and to the technical-scientific literature promoted by the French Enlightenment. These publications aimed to systematically document the production processes of the principal manufacturing activities of the Kingdom of France. The volume devoted to the manufacture of silk fabrics occupies a position of particular prominence as it describes one of the most advanced and profitable industrial sectors in eighteenth-century Europe. The large folded copper-plates, engraved with notable technical precision, illustrate machines, looms, mechanical organs, and operative procedures that today are fundamental for reconstructing preindustrial textile technology. Complete copies of the plates are increasingly difficult to find on the market and are housed in the major libraries specializing in the history of technique, industry, and the applied arts.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, IV, pp. 432-433.
Catalogue général de la Bibliothèque nationale de France, sections Arts et Métiers.
WorldCat, records relating to "L'Art du Fabriquant d'Étoffes de Soie".
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département Sciences et Techniques.
Diderot & d'Alembert, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.
Gille, Bertrand, Histoire des Techniques.
Daumas, Maurice, Histoire Générale des Techniques.
ICCU / OPAC SBN, catalogs of French eighteenth-century editions dedicated to the art of silk.
Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology, entries dedicated to the silk industry.
Musée des Tissus de Lyon, historical catalogs on French silk manufacturing.