Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (English: Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts), better known as Encyclopédie, was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert. It contained articles on politics, religion, ethics, the arts, science, the human mind, and much more.
The Encyclopédie was an Enlightenment project "to assemble all the knowledge scattered on the surface of the earth, to demonstrate the general system to the people with whom we live, & to transmit it to the people who will come after us, so that the works of centuries past is not useless to the centuries which follow, that our descendants, by becoming more learned, may become more virtuous & happier, & that we do not die without having merited being part of the human race." (Encyclopédie, Diderot)
Approximate size: 17 volumes of articles, 140+ authors, 11 volumes of illustrations,
18,000 pages of text, 75,000 entries, 20,000,001 words
Online in English, at the University of Michigan.
Denis Diderot worked incessantly to produce the Encyclopédie for over 20 years, suffering harassing persecution, and the desertion of several of his good friends. The ecclesiastical party detested the Encyclopédie because it gave a voice to materialistic and atheistic philosophers. The French aristocracy felt threatened by the promotion of concepts such as religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry, and the assertion that the well-being of the common people ought to be the main purpose of a government. A belief arose that the Encyclopédie was the work of an organized band of conspirators against society, whose dangerous ideas were now being openly published. In 1759, the Encyclopédie was formally suppressed by the government, and it became necessary to continue the work clandestinely. The publisher was jailed, then released, and his license was revoked. The threat of visits from the police was a constant harassment, but the censor, de Malesherbes, believed in freedom of the press and warned them of impending raids, so that the manuscripts could be hidden.
D'Alembert withdrew from the enterprise and other powerful colleagues, Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, among them, declined to contribute further to a book which had acquired such a bad reputation. Diderot continued to work alone, to complete the Encyclopédie as best he could. He wrote several hundred articles, many of which were laborious and comprehensive. He wore out his eyesight in correcting proofs, and in editing the manuscripts of less competent contributors. He spent his days in industrial workshops, mastering the processes of manufacturing, and his nights in reproducing on paper what he had learned during the day.
At the last moment, when his immense work was complete, Diderot discovered that after he had signed and submitted the final proofs, the publisher, fearing the displeasure of the government, had removed all the passages that he considered too controversial. The manuscript to which Diderot had devoted twenty years was irreparably altered. (A collection of the altered passages was found and published in Russia in 1988.)
History of the Encyclopédie
Two Prior Encyclopedias:
Pierre Bayle - Dictionnaire Historique et Critique (in English, the Historical and Critical Dictionary) was a biographical dictionary written by Pierre Bayle (1647–1706), a Huguenot who lived and published in Holland 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. In the second edition of 1702, it was then enlarged from two to three volumes. An English translation was first published in 1709.
Johann Heinrich Zedler - Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon (Great Complete Encyclopedia of all Sciences and Arts) is a 68-volume German encyclopedia published by Johann Heinrich Zedler between 1731 and 1754. It was one of the large largest printed encyclopedias ever, and the first to include biographies of living people in a systematic way.
Beginnings
André le Breton, a bookseller and printer, approached Diderot with a project for the publication of a translation of Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences into French, first undertaken by the Englishman John Mills. Diderot accepted the proposal, and transformed it. He persuaded Le Breton to publish a new work, which would consolidate ideas and knowledge from the Republic of Letters. The publishers found capital for a larger enterprise than they had first planned. Jean le Rond d'Alembert was persuaded to become Diderot's colleague, and permission was procured from the government.
In 1750 an elaborate prospectus announced the project, and in 1751 the first volume was published. This work was unorthodox and advanced for the time. Diderot stated that "An encyclopedia ought to make good the failure to execute such a project hitherto, and should encompass not only the fields already covered by the academies, but each and every branch of human knowledge." Comprehensive knowledge will give "the power to change men's common way of thinking." The work combined scholarship with information on trades. Diderot emphasized the abundance of knowledge within each subject area. Everyone would benefit from these insights.
Printing History of the Encyclopédie
1750 - 1752 - First years, some complaints about atheism, but no suppression. Vol I - 1,367 printed
1753 - 1756 - no serious contention
1755 - d'Alembert inducted into the Académie Francaise
1756 - 1763 - Seven Years' War - a catastrophic event for France's economy and monarchy.
Military defeats are explained by the philosophes weakening military
morality.
1756 - d'Alembert's article Genêve after his visit with Voltaire.
1757 - Vol VII - 4,550 printed
1757 -
1758 - Helvetius' de l'esprit (on Mind) 10,000 copies sold in several months.
Voltaire ends his association with the Encyclopédie and urges other contributors to do likewise.
1758 - May - Papal Court in Rome bans de l'esprit and revoked its authorization.
Buffon, Quesnay, and Turgot quit the Encyclopédie.
- Rousseau and Voltaire urge Diderot to quit.
1759 - The Encyclopédie is banned by the Spanish Inquisition and in Italy by the Pope.
- Publication is suspended in France, but it is not banned.
No comments:
Post a Comment