Traité du beau. De la philosophie des Chinois. Pensées
An extremely rare first edition (unknown to Tchemerzine, who nevertheless devotes 64 pages to Diderot's editions), of great cultural interest (his study on China and the Chinese is remarkable) and intellectual value (Treatise on Beauty).
A very fine copy in an elegant contemporary binding.
12mo of 159 pp., 90 pp., (1) blank leaf, 180 pp.
Granite-patterned Havana calf, triple gilt fillet framing the covers, smooth spine richly decorated, gilt fillet on the edges, marbled edges. Contemporary binding.
167 x 91 mm.
Diderot, Denis. Treatise on Beauty. On the Philosophy of the Chinese.
Amsterdam, 1772.
Preceded by: Diderot. Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature.
Amsterdam, 1772.
and by: Diderot. Philosophical Thoughts.
Amsterdam, 1772.
First edition of theTreatise on BeautyandOn the Philosophy of the Chinese by Diderot, certainly one of the author’s rarest; Tchemerzine mentions only the 1778 octavo edition, which appeared six years later, and it was not until Lucien Scheler and his Tchemerzine annotated and corrected in 1977 that this first 1772 edition was traced.
And what a book! Diderot had a prescient vision of China and the Chinese! :
“These peoples who are, by unanimous agreement, superior to all the nations of Asia in their antiquity, their intellect, their progress in the Arts, their wisdom, their politics, their taste for philosophy, even rival in all these respects, in the judgment of some authors, the most enlightened countries of Europe…”.
And a more nuanced analysis of their industrial capacity:
“The Chinese have fairly good manufactures in fabrics & porcelain; but if they excel in material, they fail utterly in taste & form; they have beautiful colors and poor paintings; in short, they do not have the genius for invention & discovery that now shines in Europe… sciences & arts require a more restless activity, a curiosity that never tires of searching, a kind of inability to be satisfied, for which we are better suited, & it is not surprising that, although the Chinese are more ancient, we have so far outstripped them” (Diderot. Year 1772).
Diderot had published as early as 1752 an essay on Beauty in the second volume of the Encyclopedia. This article, thoroughly revised and expanded, appears here for the first time in book form. The Enlightenment philosopher seeks to resolve the enigma of beauty and the sublime. In his effort towards universalism, he refers not only to artistic beauty and aesthetic experience, but addresses a more general concept of beauty that relates to the history of human experience. Beyond sensualism, he argues that “the perception of relationships is the only foundation of our admiration and our pleasures,” and emphasizes the evocative power of figures of speech and stylistic devices as an aesthetic criterion: “I thus call beautiful outside myself all that contains in itself something to awaken in my understanding the idea of relationships; and beautiful in relation to myself, all that awakens this idea.”
Precious copy with wide margins of one of the most interesting and rare editions of Diderot, preserved in its elegant contemporary binding with a remarkably decorated spine.
