Blason ou Art Heraldique by Denis Diderot, Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert - 1763

Good complete collection of the heraldry section from Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedia.

Complete with all 29 copperplate engravings (one triple folding plate counted as three) and 26 pages of explanatory text.

With over 750 heraldic shields comprising:
650 examples of heraldic motifs (Pl. I to XII)
21 coats of arms of religious ranks, helms of aristocracy (Pl. XIII to XIV)
36 coats of arms of kings and rulers of Europe, Russia, Ethiopia, Persia, China, etc. (Pl. XV to XVIII)
24 coats of arms of French nobility (Pl. XIX to XX)
63 coats of arms within a genealogical tree of the kings of France going back five generations from Louis XVI, beheaded in the French Revolution, to Louis XIII (Triple folding plate, Pl. XXI)
12 coats of arms with supporting mermaids, bears, tigers, hounds, gryphons, eagles, etc. (Pl. XXII)
95 coats of arms of military and religious orders with their names neatly written in pencil (Pl. XXIII-XXVII)

Half leather, spine with five raised bands, gilt fleurs-de-lys, blue cloth title label on spine with gilt letters "Noblesse de France", boards covered in blue cloth with gilt leather title label on front board "L'Art Heraldique de la Noblesse de France", marbled endpapers, all pages and plates remounted on hinges.

Rebound by the Wyvern Bindery, London.

Binding in very good condition apart from slight fading to cloth boards, copperplates crisp and dark, interior mostly clean but with some staining to a few plates outside the image.