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The Encyclopedie takes for granted the justice of religious tolerance and speculative freedom and asserts the democratic doctrine that the main concern of the nation's government should be the lot of the common people. It is also an exaltation of scientific knowledge on one hand and peaceful industry on the other. In 1759 the Encyclopedie was formally suppressed but work went on although D'Alembert withdrew, leaving Diderot to work alone. Since it had a very large number of contributors, there was no narrowly sectarian viewpoint although there was a convergence of aim. As an anthology of enlightened opinions on politics, philosophy, and religion, the Encyclopedie is one of the most important works of modern thought. It is also remains a landmark in the history of massive publishing projects. The full set comprises 35 volumes published over almost 30 years. The first seven volumes, with articles by Voltaire, Rousseau, Montesquieu and many other figureheads of the Enlightenment, were published in Paris under a royal privilege, which was however withdrawn in 1759, after which the project was closed down. With the help of Madame de Pompadour, among others, the remaining volumes were printed secretly with a fictitious imprint. The plate volumes have a different history, since they were not considered being subversive; they were were published in Paris between 1762-72. The supplement volumes were published in one edition only but in two issues, one with a Paris imprint, the other with an Amsterdam imprint, edited by Jean Baptiste Rene Robinet (1735-1820). The supplementary volume of plates has the imprint “Amst. and Paris” and the final two-vol. index was published in 1780 and edited by Pierre Mouchon (1733-97). This is the first edition with some volumes published in Geneva. Thirty-five volumes, folio, half-titles (except in text vols. 8-17), woodcut device on title-pages, some woodcut initials, head and tailpieces, 7 folding letterpress tables, a few woodcut illustrations, engraved frontispiece in volume 1, 2796 engraved plates including some doublepage or folding; occasional spotting and browning, sometimes heavier, contemporary uniform mottled calf, spines gilt in compartments, red edges, marbled end-papers, some volumes with slight variant tooling, 4 volumes rebacked to style, neat restoration to extremities of spines. Brunet II, 700; En Francais dans le texte 156; Norman 637; PMM 200; Palgrave I, 577. Literature: Briasson, D. Le Breton, Durand, Paris, G. Cramer for C. J. Panckoucke Faulche, Geneva, Neuchatel and MM Rey, Amsterdam, 1751-80. € 38.000 - € 40.000 Sistrix INFO | BID Translate all texts into your preferred language on our homepage via Google: www.hampel-auctions.com 215
