Diderot et d'Alembert - Recueil de planches de l'Encyclopédie, par ordre de matières - 1786

A fascinating illustrated volume featuring plates from 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 visible and understandable all human, material, and intellectual operations.

Superb work from the Encyclopédie méthodique, known as the 'Panckoucke Encyclopaedia,' here related to weaving, spinning, and neighboring trades.

The 290 plates (including 88 on double pages) make up the fifth installment of the Plates of the new in-4 edition of the Encyclopédie.

Here is the list of trades as announced on an introductory sheet: Hosiery, Knitting trade, Cloth bleaching, threads, etc., Boursier, Embroidery, Cordwainer, Woollen cordage, Hemp and flax, Hat maker, Rope-making, Cotton, Dressmaker, Lace, Drapery, English finishing, Spinning, Fabric frieze, Gauze, Marly, Clothes, costumes, etc., Drapery trades, small Camelots, Tisserand and Toilerie, Fashion, Sheep, Night park, Trimming, Wool carding, Carding or Ros, Re-spinning, Ribbon, Silks; Suit and body tailor, Turkish carpet, High-warp Gobelins tapestry, Low-warp Gobelins tapestry, Upholsterer, Toilerie, Cotton velvet.

The plates, which mostly bear the mention 'Benard direxit' at the bottom right, were engraved by Jacques Renaud Bénard (1731-1794) and his team, known for providing some of the plates for Diderot's Encyclopédie in folio, as well as those for Cook's Third Voyage (1785).

Very nice volume

Diderot and d'Alembert - Collection of plates from the Encyclopédie, organized by subject - 1786 - Volume VI - Panckoucke & Plomteux - Approximately 300 pages

Good condition of the binding, book in its original full brown leather, showing signs of use, with rubbed headbands, corners, and edges, red edges, decorated gilt spine with raised bands, gilded titling and volume number on red and green Moroccan leather panels, with blind stamped borders framing the covers.

Good interior condition, browning, a few plates or notebooks are detached or tend to detach, enriched with 290 engraved plates, including 88 double-page plates, illustrating trades ranging from hosiery to weaving, with marbled endpapers.

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