A Diderot Pictorial Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry Volume One
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.59 (740 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0486222845 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 485 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 0000-00-00 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Language Notes Text: English (translation) Original Language: French
In fact, most plates are so clear and accurate that an engineer could almost use them to construct machines ready to go into eighteenth-century production. Artists, illustrators, collectors, and historians of industry, art, and invention will all welcome this superb republication of copperplates engraved to illustrate Diderot's great eighteenth-century Encyclopédie. The first work of its kind, the Encyclopédie was the crowning venture of the Enlightenment. Mr. In this two-volume set, available for the first time in a paperbound edition, Dover has painstakingly reprinted 485 of the finest plates — considered among the greatest achievements of eighteenth-century graphic art — most in full size.Diderot committed his encyclopedia to publicizing trade secrets in the hope it would lead to more rational industrial processes. Moreover, the variety of arts, crafts, tools, and trades illustrated here is staggering: 56 plates on agriculture and the rural arts; 40 plates dealing with the iron foundry; 44 plates on metalworking; 67 plates on glassmaking; 28 plates showing masonry and carpentry; 55 plates dealing with textiles; and scores of others amount to a total of more than 2,000 illustrations.This inexpensive edition will serve libraries, students, and teachers as a primary reference on Europe before the Industrial Revolution. Gillispie's Introduction is an extensive essay on the place of the encyclopedia in
Fascinating book Not for everyone certainly, but this, Diderot's full encyclopedia, was the internet of it's time. I only wish I could find the full text and not just the illustrations. Our present electronic technology is so precarious, so delicate. It would be good to at least know the old methods. True a lot of these trade operations were unbelievably toxic and created quite a bit of pollution, but there are a lot of ingenious workings. Besides, I just love these old drawings!. Great reference in 2 volumes LT Great view of 17th-18th-early-19th century trades, equipment, tools, and processes.. Five Stars A great reference book for a historian andâ graphic designer.