FOUR TEXTS BY DIDEROT (1713 - 1784), EACH A DIFFERENT TYPE, but all referring to the fine arts, are presented in this edition in Greek, artfully conveying the taste and grace of the quintessentially French century that is the 18th, the century of Enlightenment, inseparable from the vain, appealing, and playful performances in every hidden or apparent facet of public and private life:

the first, in the form of a letter addressed to the notorious yet controversial, according to Diderot, theorist of the fine arts Abbé Batteux, is the Letter on the Deaf-Mutes for the Use of Those Who Hear and See (1751); the second, titled Philosophical Enquiries into the Origin and Nature of the Beautiful (1751), is none other than the entry "Beautiful" in the 2nd volume of the Encyclopedia; the third, Essays on Painting (1766), derives largely, according to the publishers, from the Literary Correspondence and is addressed to Grimm; and the fourth is the Scattered Thoughts on Painting, Sculpture, and Poetry (1777).

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]