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Encyclopédie

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L'Encyclopédie cover

The cover of L'Encyclopédie
(larger version)

L'Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des mètiers (The Encyclopedia) was an early encyclopedia, published in France in the 18th century. The final volumes were released in 1772.

The great work, comprising 28 volumes, 71,818 articles, and 2,885 illustrations was edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert and Denis Diderot. D'Alembert left the project before its completion and the last volumes are solely the work of Diderot. Many of the most noted figures of the French enlightenment contributed to the work including Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu.

The writers of the encyclopedia saw it as destroying superstitions and providing access to human knowledge. It was a quintessential summary of thought and belief of the Enlightenment. In ancien regime France it caused a storm of controversy, however. This was mostly due to its religious tolerance. The encyclopedia praised Protestant thinkers and challenged Catholic dogma. The entire work was banned, but because it had many highly placed supporters work continued and each volume was delivered clandestinely to subscribers.

It was also a vast compendium of the technologies of the period, describing the traditional craft tools as well as the new devices of the Industrial revolution in the United Kingdom.

The Encyclopédie played an extremely important role in the intellectual ferment leading to the French Revolution. In 1750 the full title was "Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres, mis en ordre par M. Diderot de l'Académie des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Prusse, et quant à la partie mathématique, par M. d'Alembert de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Paris, de celle de Prusse et de la Société royale de Londres." The title-page was ammended as d'Alembert acquired more titles.

Contributers

Notable contributors to L'Encyclopédie.

Statistics

  • 17 volumes of articles
  • 11 volumes of illustrations
  • aprox. 18,000 pages of text
  • 76,242 entries
    • 44,632 main articles
    • 28,366 secondary articles
    • 2,575 illustration indices
  • 20,736,912 words in total
    • 391.893 unique words

Literature

  • Jean d'Alembert by John Grimsley. (1963)

External link