The Encyclopédie was originally conceived as a French translation of Ephraim Chambers's Cyclopaedia (1728). Ephraim Chambers had first published his Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences in … See more

The work consisted of 28 volumes, with 71,818 articles and 3,129 illustrations. The first seventeen volumes were published between 1751 and 1765; eleven volumes of plates were finished by 1772. Engraver Robert Bénard provided at least 1,800 plates for the work. … See more

The Encyclopédie played an important role in the intellectual foment leading to the French Revolution. "No encyclopaedia perhaps has been of such political importance, or has occupied so conspicuous a place in the civil and literary history of its … See more

• "The goal of an encyclopedia is to assemble all the knowledge scattered on the surface of the earth, to demonstrate the general system … See more

Since the objective of the editors of the Encyclopédie was to gather all the knowledge in the world, Diderot and D'Alembert knew they would need various contributors to help … See more

Structure
Like most encyclopedias, the Encyclopédie attempted to collect and summarize human knowledge in a variety of fields and topics, ranging from … See more

Approximate size of the Encyclopédie:
• 17 volumes of articles, issued from 1751 to 1765
• 11 volumes of illustrations, issued from 1762 to 1772 See more