The Encyclopedie was published under the direction of Diderot from 1751 onward with thousands of articles written by the most prominent philosophers and scientists of the time. These great minds collaborated in the goal of assembling and disseminating the fruits of accumulated knowledge and learning. This massive reference work for the arts and sciences, served to propagate Enlightened ideas. Read a full description of this work and Diderot at Wikipedia.com.

This fascinating lot of two engravings details the construction and features of a fortification. Plate 41 depicts various men at work on building the fort, with a blueprint at bottom showing how the structure can best be built to take advantage of the surrounding rocky terrain. Plate 45 is split into ten panels with the primary focus on techniques for digging effective trenches. Size varies slightly.

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Condition: B+

Both are crisp impressions with minor soiling and a few light spots within the images. The first sheet has two tiny wormholes on the neatline at top. The second contains manuscript notes in French on the verso.