Beetles - Plate LXXV Histoire Naturelle Diderot Poster

We have digitally cleaned and restored this wonderful image of beetles from the Natural History pages of Diderot's Encyclopedia. The original image is adapted from an engraving from Diderot’s Encyclopedia published circa 1770. The Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers, published in Paris between 1762-1777. A masterpiece of the Enlightment Age, it set out all the knowledge of the day, and was a first attempt to document the techniques of mechanical production for objects used in everyday life. Scholars from around the world, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson submitted chapters. Denis Diderot was a French philosopher, and man of letters, and the chief editor of the L’Encyclopédie, one of the principal achievements of the Age of Enlightenment. He was a a friend of the great minds of his age including Goethe, Rousseau, and Hume.