Science and the Artist's Book
An exhibition by the Smithsonian Institution Libraries and
the Washington Project for the Arts
Technology
Herald of Science
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Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des
sciences, des arts et des métiers [Encyclopedia, or
descriptive dictionary of the sciences, arts and crafts]
Paris, 1751-1780
This illustration from Diderot's Encyclopédie
shows a compositor setting type in a printing shop, with diagrams
of the tools used. The encyclopedia has ancient roots as a
comprehensive way to organize knowledge. The 18th-century
Enlightenment was the golden age of the encyclopedia, because of
the efforts of Diderot and others to write articles on all
significant political, social, cultural and scientific topics.
Artist's Book
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Scott L. McCarney
Diderot / Doubleday / Deconstruction
Rochester, New York, 1994
[altered book, laser prints]
Scott L. McCarney crafts a book sculpture by carving into the
pages of a discarded 20th-century encyclopedia volume. He copies
the image of his 18th-century counterpart, the compositor setting
type, by using the updated technology of computer-scanning and
laser-printing.
