Is My Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers a First Edition?

The points of issue

• 395 x 252 mm)
• The census publisher line is INCOMPLETE and would misidentify sets: the Paris imprint of Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand appears only on volumes 1-7 (1751-1757)
• Publication was banned in 1757, and volumes 8-17 — all issued together in 1765 — bear the FALSE imprint 'A Neufchastel: Chez Samuel Faulche & Compagnie, 1765', Neuchâtel then being an independent principality beyond the reach of the French state
• They were in fact produced secretly in Paris by Le Breton, and carry the colophon 'De l'Imprimerie de Le Breton, Imprimeur ordinaire du Roy'
• A set whose volumes 8-17 read 'Paris' is therefore not the first edition
• The first edition proper comprises 28 volumes: 17 of text (1751-1765) and 11 of plates (Paris: Briasson etc., 1762-1772) — the census's volume counts are correct

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The Paris folio is the true first and the census is right that the Geneva, Lucca and Livorno reprints and unauthorized editions are far commoner than the true Paris printing; later quarto and octavo formats also circulate. Format plus the imprint sequence is the discriminator: the first is folio, with Paris on volumes 1-7 and Neufchastel/Samuel Faulche on volumes 8-17. Complete sets as usually assembled run to 35 volumes by adding Panckoucke's Supplément (5 volumes — 4 of text and 1 of plates; Paris: Panckoucke, Stoupe and Brunet; Amsterdam: Rey, 1776-1777) and the Table analytique et raisonnée (2 volumes, Panckoucke/Rey, 1780). Those 7 volumes are Panckoucke's supplement and are not part of the first edition proper; a 28-volume set is complete as a first edition, and note that some catalogues count 12 plate volumes by folding the Supplément's plate volume into the plate sequence.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issues apply. The specific documented trap: in 1770 Charles Joseph Panckoucke produced a reprint of the first three volumes which he dated 1751; these were impounded and later absorbed into a composite edition (also known as the 'Riverside' edition). A volume one dated 1751 is therefore not by itself proof of a first-edition set. Panckoucke obtained the rights to re-issue the work in 1775, and there were nine editions of the Encyclopédie in all. Because the set ran over two decades and was reprinted from early on to serve a subscriber list that grew from 1,000 by volume 3 to 4,000 by volume 4, made-up sets mixing editions are the norm rather than the exception — every volume must be collated individually against its expected imprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers a first edition?

A first edition of Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert (editors) (Briasson, David l'aîné, Le Breton and Durand, Paris) is identified by: The census publisher line is INCOMPLETE and would misidentify sets: the Paris imprint of Briasson, David, Le Breton and Durand appears only on volumes 1-7 (1751-1757).

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The Paris folio is the true first and the census is right that the Geneva, Lucca and Livorno reprints and unauthorized editions are far commoner than the true Paris printing; later quarto and octavo formats also circulate.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issues apply. The specific documented trap: in 1770 Charles Joseph Panckoucke produced a reprint of the first three volumes which he dated 1751; these were impounded and later absorbed into a composite edition (also known as the 'Riverside' edition). A volume one dated 1751 is therefore not by itself proof of a first-edition set. Panckoucke obtained the rights to re-issue the work in 1775, and there were nine editions of the Encyclopédie in all. Because the set ran over two decades

I have a first edition of Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.