Denis Diderot and the Encyclopédie project (1746–1772)

  1. Le Breton commissions French Cyclopaedia translation

    Labels: Andr Le, Cyclopaedia

    Paris publisher André Le Breton launches a project to translate Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia (1728) into French—an effort that soon evolves into the far more ambitious Encyclopédie enterprise.

  2. Diderot joins the Encyclopédie project

    Labels: Denis Diderot

    Denis Diderot is brought into the expanding project and soon becomes central to redefining it from a translation into an original, collaborative Enlightenment reference work.

  3. Diderot and d’Alembert made co-editors

    Labels: Denis Diderot, Jean d'Alembert

    Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert are appointed to lead the project editorially, establishing the partnership that shaped the early Encyclopédie (with d’Alembert overseeing the mathematical portions).

  4. Diderot imprisoned at Vincennes

    Labels: Denis Diderot, Vincennes Prison

    After the publication of Lettre sur les aveugles, Diderot is arrested and imprisoned at Vincennes; soon after his release he returns to intense Encyclopédie work.

  5. Prospectus invites subscriptions for Encyclopédie

    Labels: Prospectus, Subscribers

    Diderot publishes a Prospectus outlining the goals of the new multivolume reference work and soliciting subscribers—crucial for financing the large-scale publication.

  6. Volume I of the Encyclopédie appears

    Labels: Volume I, Encyclop die

    The first text volume is published in Paris, marking the public launch of the Encyclopédie as a subscription venture and immediately drawing scrutiny from religious and state authorities.

  7. French authorities suspend the Encyclopédie briefly

    Labels: French authorities

    Following the appearance of early volumes, official pressure leads to a temporary suspension and heightened censorship threats; publication nevertheless resumes and continues through the mid-1750s.

  8. Damiens attacks Louis XV; backlash intensifies

    Labels: Robert-Fran ois, Louis XV

    Robert-François Damiens attempts to assassinate Louis XV, and authorities increasingly link fears of “subversive” ideas to Enlightenment publishing—adding momentum to attacks on the Encyclopédie and related works.

  9. d’Alembert decides to abandon the enterprise

    Labels: Jean d'Alembert

    Discouraged by controversy and other pressures, d’Alembert resolves to leave the Encyclopédie project (and later departs definitively), increasing Diderot’s editorial burden.

  10. Diderot credits Jaucourt’s major contributions

    Labels: Louis de

    Louis de Jaucourt becomes the project’s most prolific contributor, particularly in the later text volumes; his sustained output helps the enterprise survive political and clerical attacks.

  11. Royal Council withdraws privilege; printing goes clandestine

    Labels: Royal Council

    The French Royal Council withdraws the publication privilege and forbids distribution and reprinting; the project continues under tacit tolerance, with work shifting toward less politically sensitive components such as the plates.

  12. Plates publication begins under continued pressure

    Labels: Plates, Illustrations

    With text publication constrained, the illustrated plates—depicting trades, crafts, and industrial processes—become a practical route to keep the broader enterprise moving forward.

  13. Diderot discovers Le Breton’s secret cuts

    Labels: Andr Le

    Diderot learns that publisher-printer André Le Breton and a compositor had removed or softened controversial passages in multiple volumes without his approval—fueling Diderot’s bitterness about the project’s compromises.

  14. Seventeen text volumes completed (1751–1765)

    Labels: Text volumes, Encyclop die

    The main sequence of 17 text (letterpress) volumes is brought to completion, closing the primary editorial phase of the undertaking that Diderot had driven for nearly two decades.

  15. Final plates volumes published; first edition complete

    Labels: Plates volumes, First edition

    The last of the plates volumes appears, completing the first-edition publication program: 17 text volumes (1751–1765) and 11 volumes of plates (1762–1772).

Start
End
17451751175817651772
Last Updated:Jan 1, 1980

Denis Diderot and the Encyclopédie project (1746–1772)