DIDEROT (Denis) and Jean Le Rond D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, o - Lot 67

DIDEROT (Denis) and Jean Le Rond D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, par une Société de gens de Lettres. Paris, Briasson, David, Le Breton et Durand, [then]: Neuchâtel, Samuel Fauche et Compagnie, 1751-1772. 35 folio volumes (21 of text, 12 of plates and 2 of tables), marbled calf, ornate spine (Binding of the period). First edition of one of the greatest enterprises of the Western mind and the written word in the Age of Enlightenment. At once a compilation of information and a veritable philosophical manifesto, the Encyclopédie, composed under the direction of Diderot and d'Alembert, brought together over two hundred well-known contributors: doctors, writers, jurists, craftsmen, artists, officers and others. They all shared a common goal: to present the cultured Europe of their time with as clear a picture as possible of all the knowledge acquired since the Renaissance (En français dans le texte, cat. BnF, n°156). The extensive illustrations include over 2,500 intaglio plates by the best artists of the day, in 12 volumes. 2 engravings are missing from the plate volumes. The spines of the copy have been restored and varnished, the spines splitting again.