D. Diderot and J. le Rond d'Alembert. Encyclopédie, Geneva, 1777-1779, 40 volumes

Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers... nouvelle édition (Recueil des planches; Suite du recueil des planches). Geneva: Pellet, 1777-1779 (vol.30: Neuchatel: la Société typographique, 1779)

39 volumes, 4to (24.9 x 18.1cm), comprising 36 text volumes and 3 plate volumes, half-titles, engraved frontispiece portrait of Diderot in vol.1 and of d'Alembert in vol.2, folding letterpress tables (in prelims of vol.1, at p.378 in vol.2, at p.461 in vol.13, at p.37 in vol.17, at p.153 in vol.19, at p.717, and at p.734 in vol.34), woodcut initials and headpieces, 441 engraved plates (some folding), contemporary tree calf, spines gilt in compartments, red edges, small tear at head of title of vol.1, small damp-stain at start of vol.14, lacking last few leaves of plate vol.3 (end of table of divisibles for numbers up to 200,000), bindings worn though internally the condition is fine

together with:

Encyclopédie méthodique. Arts et métiers mécaniques... tome quatrième [including musical instruments], Paris: Pancoucke and Plomteux, 1785, 4to, contemporary boards, uncut, text ends on p.416, slightly stained at end, binding worn

together 40 volumes; sold not subject to return

This was the first quarto edition of the Encyclopédie, with the Supplément now incorporated into the main part of the text, with a print run of over 8,000 copies and with fewer plates to keep down the costs of production. It was the work of Joseph Duplain, an unscrupulous Lyonnais bookseller, who paid the Genevan publisher Pellet to put his name to the prospectus. A reduced version of Diderot and d'Alembert's masterpiece was produced by Pancoucke under the title Encyclopédie méthodique, from 1782 onwards.

PROVENANCE:

From the collection of Arnold Dolmetsch; ink stamp of a crowned 'R' on title-pages