Dictionnaire Historique et Critique
The Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (in English, the "Historical and Critical Dictionary") was a French biographical dictionary written by Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), a Huguenot who lived and published in Rotterdam, in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, after fleeing his native France due to religious persecution. In 1689, Bayle began making notes on errors and omissions in Louis Moreri's "Grand Dictionaire historique" (1674), a previous encyclopedia, and these notes ultimately developed into his own "Dictionnaire". Bayle's dictionary was first published in 1697. It comprised two volumes, each with two parts, so that it  appeared as four physical books (A–B, C–G, H–O, and P–Z). In the second edition of 1702, it was then enlarged to three volumes (A–D, E–M, and N–Z). An English translation was first published in 1709. The overwhelming majority of the entries were devoted to individual people, whether historical or mythical, but some articles treated religious beliefs and philosophies. Many of the more controversial ideas in the book were hidden away in the voluminous footnotes, or they were slipped into articles on seemingly uncontroversial topics. The rigor and skeptical approach demonstrated in the "Dictionary