Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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Facing Pages · Branch 1607 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1607
French
p. 32131ᵉʳ mars.
Tout corps épais n’est qu’un carton divisible par exfoliation en une infinité de couches plus minces encore que l’on ne peut l’imaginer. Une colle invisible est le principe d’adhérence qui unit ces couches délicates. La ténuité apliquée aux ténuités produit le dense.
La longueur est divisible en points et tout corps étendu est une espèce d’échiquier composé de points planes et pleins qui sont sa matière et de points creux ou vuides qui sont ses pores ou vuides. Tout est filet, tout est rézeau en étendue comme en épaisseur; tout est papier, tout est carton.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3214March 1.
Every thick body is only a pasteboard divisible by exfoliation into an infinity of layers thinner still than one can imagine. An invisible glue is the principle of adherence that unites these delicate layers. Tenuity applied to tenuities produces the dense.
Length is divisible into points, and every extended body is a kind of chessboard composed of flat, full points that are its matter and hollow or empty points that are its pores or voids. Everything is net, everything is mesh in extension as in thickness; everything is paper, everything is pasteboard.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1607
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.