[PRINTING HISTORY]. DIDEROT, Denis (1713-1784) and Jean le Rond D'ALEMBERT (1717-1783). "Imprimerie en Caracteres" -- "Fonderie en Caracteres d'Imprimerie." Excerpted from: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des arts et des métiers. Imprimerie en caractères. Fonderie en caractères d’imprimerie. [France: André-François Le Breton, ca 1760].

2 parts in 2 volumes, folio (394 x 241 mm). 29 engraved plates, text leaves. (Some minor spotting). Later red morocco-backed boards (joints starting, a few minor losses to spines). Provenance: Crosby Gaige (1882-1949) American producer and publisher (bookplate).

From the first edition of Diderot's Encyclopedie, "a monument in the history of European thought" (PMM) and "the greatest encyclopedia of science, which had widespread effect in establishing uniformity of terminology, concept, and procedure in all fields of science and technology" (Grolier/Horblit 25b). These excerpts from the Encyclopedie include the sections on basic printing and the type foundry.

A FINE ASSOCIATION COPY -- THE CROSBY GAIGE COPY. At the urging of Bennet Cerf of Random House, Crosby Gaige established his own publishing house in 1927. He published 22 titles in 2 years, including works by James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad, and William Butler Yeats. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 wiped out Gaige's publishing company, he devoted more time to his private press, Watch Hill Press, through which he worked with some of the best book designers of the time, including Frederic Warde and Brude Rogers.

[With:] DIDEROT & D'ALEMBERT. "Relieur." Except from: Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences... France, ca 1760. Folio (421 x 272 mm). 6 engraved plates. Modern half cloth, sprinkled boards. Excerpted from the first edition of Diderot's Encyclopedie, the section on book-binding.