Encyclopédie

***Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers*** () was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772. 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 _Encyclopédie_ was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many people, and it was the first to include applied science and engineering. Still, the _Encyclopédie_ is famous above all for representing the thought of the Enlightenment. According to Denis Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the _Encyclopédie_'s aim was "to change the way people think."

The _Encyclopédie_ was conceived as a translation of Ephraim Chambers's _Cyclopaedia_ (1728). In 1743, the translation was given by the Parisian book publisher André Le Breton to John Mills, an Englishman living in France. In May 1745, Le Breton announced the work as available for sale, but Mills had not done the work. Le Breton beat Mills with a cane. Mills sued for assault, but Le Breton was set free because he was justified. For his new editor, Le Breton chose mathematician Jean Paul de Gua de Malves. In August 1747, Gua de Malves was fired for being a poor leader. Le Breton then hired Diderot and Jean d'Alembert as the new editors. Diderot would remain editor for the next twenty-five years, seeing the _Encyclopédie_ through to completion.

## Contributors

Many of the most noted figures of the French Enlightenment contributed to the _Encyclopédie_, including Voltaire, Rousseau, and Baron d'Holbach. The most prolific contributor wrote 17,266 articles, or about eight per day, between 1759 and 1765.

## Statistics

Approximate size of the _Encyclopédie_:

- 17 volumes of articles, issued from 1751 to 1765
- 11 volumes of illustrations, issued from 1762 to 1772
- 18,000 pages of text
- 75,000 entries
    - 44,000 main articles
    - 28,000 secondary articles
    - 2,500 illustration indices
- 20,000,000 words in total

Print run: 4,250 copies (note: even single-volume works in the 18th Century seldom had a print run of more than 1,500 copies)

## Quotes

- "If exclusive privileges were not granted, and if the financial system would not tend to concentrate wealth, there would be few great fortunes and no quick wealth.  When the means of growing rich is divided between a greater number of citizens, wealth will also be more evenly distributed; extreme poverty and extreme wealth would be also rare." (Wealth article, Diderot)

## Infobox (book)

- **name**: Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
- **image**: Encyclopedie de D'Alembert et Diderot - Premiere Page - ENC 1-NA5.jpg
- **image size**: 200px
- **caption**: The title page of the _Encyclopédie_
- **author**: Encyclopédistes, Numerous contributors, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert
- **country**: France
- **language**: French
- **subject**: General
- **release date**: 1751–1766
- **genre**: Reference work, Reference encyclopedia
- **publisher**: André le Breton, Michel-Antoine David, Laurent Durand and Antoine-Claude Briasson