Diderot, Denis (1713-1784) Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, par une Societe des Gens de Le

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Diderot, Denis (1713-1784)Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, par une Societe des Gens de Lettres. Paris/Neuchatel/Amsterdam: Various Printers, 1751-1780.
First edition, thirty-five volume set, with more than 3,000 full-paged engravings, not collated, bound in uniform contemporary sponged calfskin bindings, with gilt-tooled spines, with occasional foxing to scattered leaves and plates, generally clean and fresh, an unsophisticated copy, in very good condition.
"The purpose of an encyclopedia is to assemble the knowledge scattered over the surface of the earth; to explain its general plan to the men with whom we live and to transmit it to the men who come after us; in order that the labors of centuries past may not be in vain during centuries to come; that our descendants, by becoming better instructed, may as a consequence be more virtuous and happier and that we may not die without having deserved well of the human race." (Diderot, quoted from the article on encyclopedias in the present work.)
"A monument in the history of European thought; the acme of the age of reason; a prime motive force in undermining the ancien regime and in heralding the French Revolution; a permanent source for all aspects of eighteenth century civilizations." (Printing and the Mind of Man)
Estimate $60,000-80,000


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