Sébastien Le Clerc was born into a family of goldsmiths in Lorraine, and received classical artisanal training. Yet over the course of a highly successful career as an engraver, he also became a widely published scientific author. This paper argues that geometrical skills played a key role in the dual development of Le Clerc’s career, and in his striving for recognition as a man of letters, as well as an engraver. By a detailed study of the geometrical skills displayed in Le Clerc’s two geometrical publications, this paper revisits the thorny question of the relations between scholars and artisans in the early modern period. Rather than a dependence on his hands-on, bodily experience, it was Le Clerc’s skill in geometry that lent support to his aspiring scholarly career.

中文翻译：

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Sébastien Le Clerc 职业生涯中的书籍出版和几何技能

Sébastien Le Clerc 出生于洛林的一个金匠家庭，接受过古典手工艺训练。然而，在作为雕刻师的职业生涯取得巨大成功的过程中，他也成为了一位广泛出版的科学作家。本文认为，几何技能在勒克莱尔职业生涯的双重发展以及他争取成为文学家和雕刻家的过程中发挥了关键作用。本文通过对勒克莱尔两本几何出版物中所展现的几何技巧的详细研究，重新审视近代早期学者与工匠之间关系的棘手问题。勒克莱尔的几何技能不是依赖于他的亲身实践经验，而是他的几何技能为他有抱负的学术生涯提供了支持。