Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres.: THE ENCYCLOPÉDIE: THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S MONUMENTAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE UNIVERSAL’S KNOWLEDGE

Paris, Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand, 1751-1755

(vols. 8-17 Neuchatel, Faulche & Cie, 1765).

Plates: Paris, Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand, 1762-1772.

Supplement: Paris, Panckoucke, Stoupe and Brunet; Amsterdam, Rey 1776-1777.

Tables: Paris, Panckoucke, Amsterdam, Rey, 1780.

35 volumes in folio (390 x 246 mm); contemporary uniform marbled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red edges; comprising 17 volumes of text, 12 volumes of plates, 4 volumes of supplement and 2 volumes of tables, with half titles, woodcut device on title-pages, some woodcut initials, head-and-tail-pieces, 7 folding letterpress tables, a few woodcut illustrations and 2795 engraved plates (some of which are double-page or folding); occasional foxing and spotting, one volume with a pale waterstain, spines lightly chipped, extremities rubbed; overall a very good set uniformely bound.

First edition of the Enlightenment's monumental contribution to the universal's knowledge, a true monument in the history of European thought.

The Encyclopédie was the result of a massive collaborative effort, with contributions by the leading French intellectuals of the time, including Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu.

The first seven volumes of the Encyclopédie were published in Paris under a royal privilege; when this was withdrawn in 1759 printing continued clandestinely, and the last ten volumes were issued under the false imprint of Samuel Faulche, Neuchâtel. In 1770 Panckoucke attempted to reprint the work in Paris but was opposed by the French government, and instead printed his new edition in Geneva imitating the original imprints. Panckoucke had hoped to re-use the copperplates made for the first edition, but most had to be redone. The supplemental volumes and Table analytique were published in one edition only.

"Its beginning gave no inkling to its future importance. […] This brilliant young man [Denis Diderot], unknown to the public and in very straitened circumstances, at once gained for the project the warm support of his already famous friend Jean D'Alambert, who not only wrote the Discourse préliminaire, the general introduction to the Encyclopédie, and contributed the articles on mathematics, but used his assured position in society and the world of letters to obtain the moral and financial support of the leading salons and the cooperation of the best scholars and philosophes.

Each volume as it appeared caused a sensation throughout Europe. The court, the church, the judiciary were outraged; the number of subscribers, originally one thousand, rose to four thousand. In 1759, the seven volumes so far published were banned by the French Attorney General and condamned by the Pope. Frederic II of Prussia and Catherine II of Russia offered to have the work published in Berlin and St. Petersburg. Le Breton, however, carried on clandestinely and in 1765 completed the tenth volume, the last according to the prospectus. But a rising young publisher, Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, continued the work until 1780. By that time, at least seven pirated editions of the Encyclopédie had been published in Geneva, Berne, Lausanne, Yverdun, Lucca and Leghorn." PMM.