DIDEROT (Denis) - ALEMBERT (D'). Encyclopedia,... - Lot 63 - Ader

DIDEROT (Denis) - ALEMBERT (D'). Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Science, Arts and Crafts, by a society of writers. Paris, Neuchâtel, Amsterdam, 1751-1777. - 33 (out of 35) volumes in-folio, 388 x 250. Marbled Havana calf, spine with ornamented nerves, marbled edges (contemporary binding). Adams, G1, pp. 280-305. partly original edition of the famous Encyclopédie Diderot-D'Alembert . This work is a monument, of capital importance in the history of ideas. The aim of the encyclopaedists was above all to make reason and modernity triumph, at a time when, after centuries of obscurantism, we were witnessing a rebirth of intelligence. Diderot, to whom the direction of the Encyclopaedia had been entrusted, devoted 20 years to this undertaking for which he made corrections, syntheses and wrote more than a thousand articles on subjects as diverse as philosophy, aesthetics, morals and the mechanical arts. He was assisted in the early years by D'Alembert, who gave up publishing in 1759 after the condemnation of the encyclopaedic enterprise. From then on, D'Alembert only dealt with the mathematical part. Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu were among the collaborators in this prestigious company. A copy comprising 33 volumes published over a large period, from 1751 to 1777. It includes 17 volumes of text published between 1751 and 1765, 11 volumes of plates published between 1762 and 1772, and 5 volumes of supplements, which were printed between 1776 and 1777. The two table volumes dating from 1780 are missing . Volume 10 of the plates, which was originally missing, has been replaced by a volume from another, slightly larger, red-edged copy of the Geneva forgery. The 4 volumes of text in the supplement come from the edition made for sale in Amsterdam, bearing the title Supplement to the Encyclopedia ... and Rey's address. The 17 volumes of text comprise three folding plates, the first in volume