Abrams' Discoveries series
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Cover of the first volume from Découvertes Gallimard collection, features Desert of Gizeh by David Roberts (19th century).
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| Author | Various |
|---|---|
| Country |
 France
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| Language |
French  English
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| Genre | Humanities, Encyclopaedia |
| Publisher |
Éditions Gallimard Thames & Hudson Abrams Books
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| Published |
1986–present |
| Published in English |
1992–2008 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback, Hardcover) & Digital edition for iPad |
| No. of books | 732: Découvertes Gallimard (590), Découvertes Gallimard : Série « Une autre histoire du XXᵉ siècle » (10), Découvertes Gallimard Albums (13), Découvertes Gallimard Texto (6), Découvertes Gallimard Tirage limité (3), Découvertes Gallimard Hors série (110) |
Découvertes Gallimard (French: [dekuvɛʁt ɡalimaːʁ], literally in English “Discoveries Gallimard”; in UK: New Horizons, in USA: Abrams Discoveries) is an encyclopaedic collection or a series of illustrated, pocket-sized books on a variety of subjects, aimed at adults and teenagers. It was published in November 1986 by Éditions Gallimard with the first volume The Search for Ancient Egypt (original title: À la recherche de l'Égypte oubliée), written by French Egyptologist Jean Vercoutter. These scholarly little books then released in successive volumes, without a systematic plan, each of which is structured like a separate book. The collection currently contains 732 books.
The A6 paper size is used for these mini books and printed on thick coated paper, richly decorated with full colour illustrations, from which leap two or three images per page. Each book of this encyclopaedic collection is composed of a monograph and focuses on a particular topic, the whole series covers all areas of human knowledge and experience, such as history, archaeology, art, aesthetics, music, religion, culture, civilisation, science, geology, biography, the research of supernatural, et cetera. There are 502 expert authors who have written for the collection. They usually use timelines and historical perspective to describe a subject, for example, L'heure du grand passage : Chronique de la mort (lit. “The Hour of the Great Passage: Chronicle of the Death”), which narrated in chronological order to present the view of death in Europe from the Medieval Period to the 20th century, through historical vision of cultural, social and religious aspects. Almost all the volumes follow the same method, therefore, history is the essential element of perspective of this work. Every volume has around 200 pages with approximately 120–200 illustrations. Each book opens with 8–10 full-page illustrations or photographs, prefaced by a pull-quote on the inside front cove, which Thames & Hudson director Jamie Camplin calls it a “cinema-influenced trailer”. In this picture-dense format, the authors must squeeze their words in edgewise. At the back of each book is the “Documents” section, here they provide more detailed documentary information and historical records, the sources of all illustrations as well as photo credits, dedicated to those who want to do further research. The novelty lies in the subtle orchestration of the text and the illustration, where successive sequences, inserts and leaflets overlapping in double pages. The publisher promised that they wanted to create “the most beautiful pocket collection in the world” (« la plus belle collection de poche du monde »).
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Wikipedia