Bourrelier, Pl. I

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About Bourrelier, Pl. I

This magnificently detailed copperplate engraving, Bourrelier (Saddlery), Pl. I, from L'Encyclopedie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, measures 16" x 10" and is in excellent condition. The shop illustrated in this engraving makes saddles, pack saddles and horse collars, the latter two items for dray horses. The labeled figures show the processed leather being formed and made into the parts for the saddle by the workers. In the bottom register, the workbenches and tools used for this type of work are shown and labeled. Denis Diderot (1713-1784) one of the most active and famous leaders from the Enlightenment, was born in the eastern French city of Langres in 1713. Diderot grew up hitting three of the great earmarks of someone destined for greatness: intelligence, rebellion and risk. In 1732, he earned a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from the Lycée Louis le Grand, yet he defied his father by turning away the respectable calling of law and medicine to instead live a vagabond existence as a bookseller in Paris . In 1743, Diderot further alienated his father by marrying beneath his class to Antoinette Champion. Several years later, after serving a 100 days sentence as a crown prisoner in the fortress of Vincennes, due to the regime of Louis XV perceiving his philosophical writings as too radical, he began working on the most difficult and important project of his life: the construction of L’Encyclopédie. Diderot intended for L’Encyclopédie "to assemble the knowledge scattered over the surface of the Earth; to explain its general plan to men with whom we live and to transmit it to the men who come after us; in order that the labors of centuries past may not be in vain during the centuries to come; that our descendants, by becoming better instructed, may as a consequence be more virtuous and happier, and that we may not die without having deserved well of the human race.” . In other words, Diderot wanted to give everyone, despite their