Descriptions des Arts et Métiers

The full series comprises 113 folio volumes along with three supplements, and provide detailed accounts of a wide range of handcraft and manufacturing processes carried out in France at that time.

The volumes are well-illustrated, with precise engravings by Jean Elie Bertrand (1737–1779) a noted typographer from Neuchâtel, where the printing was done.

The project had its origin in request from Colbert in 1675 to the Academy Royal des Sciences for detailed accounts of various mechanic arts to be prepared and for new machines to be reported upon.

It was left to Réaumur's successor Duhamel du Monceau to bring about the publication of the series, probably as the result of the competition from the Encyclopedia.

A microfilm version is also available from Gale as part of their Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Periodicals and Academy Publications series [1] (in French) Browsable on the BNF (French National Library) Gallica Web site Full scan: [3] And a subset of the plates are viewable on the web site of the l'Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica "F. Datini"