Lot 138
Diderot, Denis, & Jean D'Alembert
[Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et métiers]
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
Recueil de Planches, sur les Sciences, les Arts Libéraux, et les Arts Méchaniques, avec leur Explication. [Volumes 1-5,7-11 of 11 volumes of plates]. Paris: chez Briasson [et al.], 1762-72. First edition, folio (42.7 x 25.5cm), engraved plates (some double-page, some folded), quarter calf with contemporary paper boards, edges untrimmed, boards heavily worn with corner tips damaged or missing, light soiling to leaf edges, occasional creases and tears to plates, with some staining to pastedowns and endpapers;
volume 1: 253 of 269 plates (with one plate repeated in this copy), with half-title, joint of upper board cracking but firm;
volume 2: 232 of 233 plates, with half-title, joint of upper board cracking but firm;
volume 3: 192 of 201 plates, with half-title;
volume 4: all 298 plates present, with half-title, joint of upper board cracked with board coming loose;
volume 5: 245 of 248 plates, with half-title, joint of upper board cracking but firm;
volume 7: 251 of 259 plates, lacking half-title, title page, text and plates of ‘Maroquinier’ section;
volume 8: 253 of 254 plates, with half-title, upper board detached;
volume 9: all 253 plates present, with half-title, joint of upper board cracking but firm;
volume 10: all 337 plates present, with half-title, some dampstaining to later leaves;
volume 11: all 239 plates present, with half-title, lower board detached
(10)
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12 November 2025). Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.
Footnote
An incomplete set of the 11 plate volumes (10 livraisons in 11 volumes (vols. 2-3 are the 2 parts of the second livraison) produced to accompany the text volumes of the ‘Encyclopédie, ou Díctionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers’ published between 1751-72, volume 1 includes plates relating to agriculture, anatomy, antiquities, architecture, gardening, bee-keeping, art of war “art militaire”; volume 2 includes type-setting, handwriting, alphabets, carpentry; volume 3 includes hunting, chemistry, surgery, drawing, cloth-making; volume 4 includes mirror making, clock making, forges; volume 5 includes mathematics, physics, engraving, foundries, paper-making; volume 7 includes printing, horsemanship, leather tanning, naval tactics, carpentry, music, vol. 8 includes fishing, pottery, sculpture and various professions including wig maker, patissier, bookbinder; vol. 9 includes soap making, locksmithery, tailoring, leather tanning, upholstery, weaving; vol. 10 includes theatres, theatre machinery, metal working, glass making; vol. 11 includes weaving, passementerie, and gauze- ribbon- and silk-making.