D'alembert

2002 · réf. 16833 — No Place: Bibliotheque De L'Image. New. 2002. Softcover. 2914661150 . B & W ; 9 x 12 1/2"; 200 pages; Soft cover has white spine with black and red lettering. NEW sealed in shrinkwrap. Lavishly Illustrated with b/w pictures showing methods and patterns for silk weaving of the 1700s in France. 'First published over the course of more than twenty years 1751-1777 the 28 folio volumes of the Encyclopédie include 17 volumes of text with more than 70000 articles on subjects ranging from asparagus to zodiac. The remaining 11 volumes contain beautifully engraved plates filled with carefully drawn figures that constitute a visual analogue to the written articles linked to them through cross-references. The Encyclopédie was the major achievement of the French Enlightenment whose aim in Diderot's words was to "change the common way of thinking" through the diffusion of knowledge and the development of critical modes of thought. Denis Diderot was the main editor of the Encyclopédie but it was a collaborative project the work of a "society of men of letters" as its title page declared and of a consortium of printer-booksellers. Jean Le Rond d’Alembert 1717-1783 was hired along with Diderot by the printers whose modest ambition was to translate Ephraim Chambers’ two-volume English Cyclopedia the 4th edition of which was published in 1741. By the time the last volume of Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie was published more than 140 people had contributed to its 32 volumes of articles and plates.' Extra heavy/3 #. . Bibliotheque De L'Image paperback