[LOOMS]. - Lot 29

[LOOMS]. Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur explication. Livorno: publishers' press, 1778. - In-folio, 424 x 280: (3 ff.), 2 pp., 8 plates; 7 pp., 29 plates; (1 f.), 8 plates; (1 f.), 4 plates; 3 pp., 10 plates; 40 pp., 135 plates, (2 ff.). Fawn half-basane with corners, spine ribbed and decorated (period binding). Collection of plates concerning the art of silk-making, the various weaving techniques and looms, taken from the famous Encyclopédie, or dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers par une Société de Gens de Lettres, put in order by Diderot. It forms the eleventh and final volume of plates in the folio edition published in Livorno. This well-completed volume comprises 8 plates (including two doubles) for the weaver, 29 plates (including 3 doubles) for the passementier, 8 plates (including 7 doubles) for the marli loom, four plates for the gas maker, 10 double plates for the ribbon maker and 135 plates (including 23 doubles) for the art of silk making. A total of 194 plates, including 45 double plates, engraved on copper. The last and most important part, on the art of silk-making, is itself divided into five sections. The first deals with the preparation of silk for fabrics, the second with the preparation of plain fabrics, and the third with figure fabrics. The fourth section covers the manufacture of different types of velvet, and the fifth deals with the art of hunting. It includes 135 engraved plates. A good copy in contemporary binding. Marginal wetness on twenty leaves, some foxing, small brown halo in the upper margin of six leaves.