Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers

First quarto edition, complete with all volumes and plates, commonly referred to as the “Third Edition” of the Encyclopédie, and also known as the “Encyclopédie de Pellet” or “Encyclopédie de Lyon” or “Encyclopédie du Lac” by Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet.

Full marbled and polished brown sheepskin contemporary bindings, spines with five raised bands and four gilt compartments decorated with pomegranate gilt tools, two gilt decorative rolls at foot, title and volume lettering-pieces in red and green morocco, boards twice framed in blind, board edges gilt, all red edges, marbled pastedowns and endpapers.

Discreet restorations to a small number of spine-ends and joints, a few minor and scattered scuffs to boards and corners, a scratch to the spine of four volumes; minor signs of wear, in no way affecting the exceptional condition of these 39 volumes in uniform contemporary bindings.

Occasional foxing and scattered stains, a few gatherings bound in duplicate, one complete gathering bound in reverse in volume 32 (pp. 743 to 738). Pagination errors which are usual to the Pellet edition, with no missing leaves (including the absence of a half-title in volume 15, page jumps in volume 34, and typeface variations on titles and half-titles, common to all copies of this edition). A few pencil annotations in volumes 11 (pp. 19 and 998), 12 (p. 453), and 33 (pp. 591-593) at the article on tolerance.

Copy complete with all 593 plates illustrating the most democratic edition of the Encyclopédie: 220 in the first plate volume, 197 in the second, 171 in the third, 2 horological plates at the end of volume 36, and two portraits of Diderot and d’Alembert at the head of the first two volumes, drawn by Charles-Nicolas Cochin and engraved by Louis-Jacques Cathelin. Numerous plates, bands and culs-de-lampe engraved by Grimer, Robert Bénard and Antoine-Jacques Richomme.

4,225 copies of the first folio edition of the ‘Encyclopédie’ were printed between 1751 and 1772. Following this publication, two further editions appeared in rapid succession.

A first folio reprint between 1771 and 1776 appeared in an issue of 1,250 copies at a lower subscription price. It was not until the first quarto edition, published by Pellet (1777-1779), that the ‘Encyclopédie’ achieved true commercial success. More manageable in format and considerably less expensive, its 8,011 copies directly competed with the folio editions. Pellet, a Swiss printer-bookseller, served merely as a figurehead for a vast commercial enterprise spanning two countries and some six cities (Paris, Lyon, Neuchâtel, Geneva, Trévoux and Grenoble) under the direction of three booksellers: Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, Joseph-Benoît Duplain and the Société Typographique de Neuchâtel.

An outstanding copy in contemporary bindings, in exceptionally fine and rare condition, of the first quarto edition of the ‘Encyclopédie’, complete with its 36 text volumes and 3 plate volumes.