Diderot et d'Alembert - Recueil de planches de l'Encyclopédie - 1785

Exciting illustrated edition of this superb encyclopedic work of the Enlightenment, where technical, artisanal, scientific, and artistic knowledge is translated into meticulous engravings, organized by trades and disciplines, with the aim of making all human, material, and intellectual operations visible and understandable.

This fourth volume is part of the series of plates that accompany the texts of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, continued and reissued by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke and his partner Plomteux at the end of the 18th century.

It contains hundreds of intaglio engravings, categorized by fields: mechanics, watchmaking, metallurgy, agriculture, marine, architecture, decorative arts, scientific instruments, and everyday trades.

Each diagram is accompanied by an explanatory legend, often coded by letters, which helps to understand the tools, gestures, machines, processes, and finished products.

The collection forms a visual encyclopedia of human work, where images become a vehicle for knowledge, transmission, and the valorization of techniques.

This Volume IV, in particular, stands out for the precision of its representations, the clarity of its composition, and the beauty of its line work, inherited from the best engravers of the century.

It exemplifies the encyclopedic ideal: to gather, organize, disseminate, and pay tribute to both practical intelligence and theoretical speculation.

Diderot and d'Alembert - Collection of Plates from the Encyclopédie - 1785 - Volume IV - Panckoucke & Plomteux - 132 Pages

Good condition of the binding, book in its original full marbled calf, showing signs of use, rubbed headbands, corners, and edges, red edges, decorated spine with raised bands, gilt titling and volume numbers on red and green morocco panels.

Good interior condition, browning, work enriched with 257 engraved plates, including 47 double-page plates, illustrating trades ranging from mosaic artists to turners, with marbled endpapers.

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