ENCYCLOPEDIE. DIDEROT. - Lot 43

ENCYCLOPEDIE. DIDEROT. [Collection of volumes]. LOT of 4 volumes of plates, sewn in temporary cardboard covers or bound, from the period. -Collection of plates from the Encyclopédie arranged by subject. 3 very small folio volumes sewn in contemporary temporary cardboard covers. Volume One, 1783. (4) folios (including title page and table of contents), 183 plates. Volume Three, 1784. (2) ff. (title page and table of contents), 157 plates. Volume Four, Paris, Panckoucke, Liège, Pompeux, 1785. (2) ff. (title page and table of contents), 205 plates. With generous margins, printed on laid paper (a few edges slightly discolored, a few scattered pinholes, temporary paper spines missing on 2 volumes, a few stains on 2 ff. in Volume 3, but otherwise fine copies). Beautiful engravings. -Continuation of the collection of plates on the Sciences, the Liberal Arts, and the Mechanical Arts. With explanations. Volume Three. Geneva: Pellet, 1779. In-4. Marbled fawn calfskin of the period, decorated ribbed spine, gilded floral panels, title and volume number, gilt title, blind-stamped border on the covers, red edges (spine slightly rubbed, a few tarnished or soiled borders, but a fine copy that has remained fresh). Beautiful engravings. 64 pp., 77 plates, numerous fold-outs, and 10 maps, including the map of the Five Californias. Engraved ex libris from the period bearing the coat of arms of the Count of Lamotte Vauvert (Comte de La Motte de Broons de Vauvert), a member of the Breton nobility from the Côtes-d’Armor region, Château de Lescouët-Jugon. A fine copy. Provenance: from the library of Pierre Séjourné. Pierre Séjourné (1930–1993), a Parisian bookseller and lover of bookbindings, a flutist, and an enthusiast of literature and classical music, frequented both the Parisian artistic and literary circles and the world of the Decorative Arts and their schools through his uncle, the architect and academician Albert Laprade. Also an author and actor, he devoted himself to writing and performing his own plays, which were staged primarily in the Paris region.