Coats of Arms or Heraldic Art. - Lot 51

Coats of Arms or Heraldic Art. [No place, no publisher], second half of the 18th century. Large folio, Bradel-style binding in half-vellum, with marbled paper covers. A rare offprint devoted to heraldic art, excerpted from the monumental Encyclopédie by Diderot and d’Alembert, one of the major publishing undertakings of the Age of Enlightenment. The work brings together the explanatory text devoted to the principles of blazoning, coats of arms, titles of nobility, orders of chivalry, and the practices of civil, religious, and military heraldry. The illustrations are the main attraction of this publication. They consist of 33 copper-engraved plates, mounted on tabs, offering a vast heraldic repertoire: necklaces and insignia of orders of chivalry, crowns and external ornaments, supports and supporters, examples of French and foreign coats of arms, genealogical tables, as well as various heraldic compositions intended to illustrate the rules set forth in the text. These plates, executed with great finesse, attest to the high level achieved by French encyclopedic engraving in the 18th century. A fine reference copy, preserved in a simple, later bibliophile binding. The plates, which are complete, remain particularly decorative and are sought after by enthusiasts of heraldry, genealogy, and the history of the nobility.