Encyclopédistes · Lablypedia

History

The composition of the 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates of the Encyclopédie was the work of at least 139 authors and 66 artists.

The known contributors to the text of the Encyclopédie were not a unified group, neither in ideology nor social class. Nevertheless, many of the authors belonged to the vaguely defined intellectual group known as the philosophes. As such, they promoted the advancement of science and secular thought and supported the tolerance, rationality, and open-mindedness of the Enlightenment. They were also skilled propagandists who used the Encyclopédie to subtly influence public opinion and spread Enlightenment ideas in France both before and after the French Revolution.

Below, some of the contributors are listed in alphabetical order, by the number of articles that they wrote and by the identifying "signature" by which their contributions were identified in the Encyclopédie. Some of them are well-known, but others, such as Allard, remain a mystery to us. Around half of the articles in the Encyclopédie lack a signature, in some cases because a collaborator wished for anonymity.

Writing a critique of the Encyclopédie in 1768, Diderot recognized that the contributors were a diverse lot: "Along with some excellent men, there were some weak, average, and absolutely bad ones. Whence the spotty quality of the work, where we find the draft of a schoolboy next to a masterpiece."

An incomplete machine-generated list of authors sorted by the number of signed articles can be found on website of ARTFL's digitized edition of the Encyclopédie. There are lists by frequency and by letter.

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Editors and key contributors

Denis Diderot

In the early 1740s, Diderot was working on a French translation of Robert James's A Medicinal Dictionary for the booksellers Antoine-Claude Briasson, Laurent Durand, and Michel-Antoine David. When the latter three became involved with a project for translating Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia (1728) into English, it was only natural that they would turn to Diderot for help. After having worked on the project in other capacities for some time already, Diderot was named co-editor of the Encyclopédie, as the greatly expanded translation was now called, on 16 October 1747. As editor, Diderot wrote the prospectus and, with D'Alembert, reviewed others' articles. As a contributor, he wrote thousands of articles, many on the mechanical arts, philosophy, and natural history.

D'Alembert

Jean le Rond d'Alembert was already one of Europe's foremost mathematicians when he became the a co-editor of the Encyclopédie in 1747. He wrote the Preliminary Discourse, which borrowed material from Diderot's prospectus. In addition, he contributed articles on mathematics, physics, and other topics. Several of his articles were among the most controversial. In his article on Geneva, published in 1757, he praised his own idealized version of Geneva in such a way as to condemn France implicitly, and he claimed that some Genevan pastors no longer believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ. For some time already, he had found himself frustrated by attacks against the Encyclopédie, and for this and other, undisclosed reasons, he announced his decision to resign as co-editor in early 1758. He continued to write on mathematical subjects for subsequent volumes.

Le chevalier de Jaucourt

Louis de Jaucourt was born in Paris into a noble family that practiced Protestantism in secret. He trained as a physician but chose to devote himself to the life of a gentleman-scholar. Before becoming a contributor to the Encyclopédie, he had already compiled a multi-volume medical dictionary, but the manuscript was lost in a shipwreck. After the publication of volume 1 of the Encyclopédie, Jaucourt contacted the bookseller David and volunteered his services. Over time, the extent of his collaboration dramatically increased, so that, in the end, he wrote about a quarter of the articles in the Encyclopédie. His articles were on a great variety of subjects, including religion, politics, medicine, botany, and the fine arts. Especially after D'Alembert's resignation as co-editor, Jaucourt became a sort of unofficial co-editor. For example, he began introducing biographies in geographical articles in volume 6, thereby contravening Diderot and D'Alembert's initial decision not to include biographies.

Alphabetical

Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville
Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d'Argis
Arnulphe d'Aumont
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin
Jacques-François Blondel
Claude Bourgelat
Jean-François-Henri Collot
Étienne Noël Damilaville
Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton
Denis Diderot
César Chesneau Du Marsais
Marc-Antoine Eidous
Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle
Guillaume Le Blond
André le Breton
Georges-Louis Le Sage
Antoine Louis
Baron d'Holbach
Louis de Jaucourt
Jacques-Raymond Lucotte
Philippe-Antoine Magimel
Edmé-François Mallet
Paul-Jacques Malouin
Jean-François Marmontel
Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu
Adrien Quiret de Margency
Jean-Baptiste-Pierre le Romain
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches
Pierre Tarin
François-Vincent Toussaint
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune
Urbain de Vandenesse
Gabriel François Venel
Suzanne Verdier
Voltaire
Claude Yvon

Number of articles

71,818 articles in 17 volumes:

37,870 – XXX (unsigned or undetermined)
17,288 – Louis de Jaucourt
5,394 – Denis Diderot
4,268 – Boucher d'Argis
1,925 – Edmé-François Mallet
1,309 – Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
994 – Jacques-Nicolas Bellin
720 – Guillaume Le Blond
707 – Gabriel François Venel
693 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton
541 – Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville
482 – Jacques-François Blondel
449 – Antoine Louis
428 – Marc-Antoine Eidous
414 – Baron d'Holbach
388 – François-Vincent Toussaint
344 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
337 – Pierre Tarin
227 – Claude Bourgelat
214 – Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle
199 – Urbain de Vandenesse
192 – Arnulphe d'Aumont
129 – César Chesneau Du Marsais
119 – Cahusac
108 – Le Roy
107 – Landois
91 – Beauzée
78 – Paul-Jacques Malouin
70 – Jean-Baptiste-Pierre le Romain
61 – Louis-Jacques Goussier, also supervisor of the engraved plates
56 – Malouin
45 – Lenglet Du Fresnoy
41 – Daubenton | Diderot
39 – Claude Yvon
39 – Daubenton | Vandenesse
32 – Boucher d'Argis
26 – de La Chapelle | d'Alembert
26 – Voltaire
25 – Diderot | Mallet
23 – Daubenton | Jaucourt
22 – Daubenton, le Subdelegue
21 – Barths
20 – Mallet | Diderot
20 – Formey
20 – Daubenton | Jaucourt
14 – Rousseau | d'Alembert
14 – Beauzee
13 – Watelet
13 – Boucher d'Argis
12 – Douchet et Beauzee
12 – Daubenton | d'Argenville
11 – Diderot | Vandenesse
10 – Jacques-François de Villiers
10 – Marmontel
10 – Forbonnais
9 – Papillon
9 – Mallet | d'Alembert
9 – Daubenton | Daubenton, le Subdelegue
8 – Faiguet
7 – d'Argenville | Diderot
7 – Tarin
7 – Pestr
7 – Jaucourt
7 – Bellin | Bellin
6 – Vandenesse | Diderot
6 – Toussaint | Mallet
6 – Durival
6 – Beauzee et Duchet
5 – d'Aubenton
5 – d'Alembert | Diderot
5 – Yvon | Diderot
5 – Venel | Venel
5 – Menuret
5 – Mallet | Mallet
5 – Diderot | Daubenton
5 – Daubenton | d'Argenville | Vandenesse
5 – Daubenton | Vandenesse | Diderot
5 – C. D. J. | Jaucourt
4 – d'Alembert | Mallet
4 – Romilly
4 – Rallier
4 – Louis | Diderot
4 – Blondel | Diderot

By letter

In the Encyclopédie, most of the regular authors are identified by a letter at the end of an article. By contrast, irregular contributors were often identified with their full names.

(A) – Boucher d'Argis
(a) – Lenglet Du Fresnoy
(B) – Cahusac
(b) – Venel
(C) – Pestré
(c) – Daubenton, le Subdélégué
(D) – Goussier
(d) – d'Aumont
(E) – de La Chapelle
(e) – Bourgelat
(F) – Dumarsais
(f) – de Villiers
(G) – Mallet
(g) – Barthès
(H) – Toussaint
(h) – Morellet
(I) – Daubenton
(K) – d'Argenville
(L) – Tarin
(M) – Malouin
(m) – Ménuret de Chambaud
(N) – Vandenesse
(O) – d'Alembert
(P) – Blondel
(Q) – Le Blond
(R) – Landois
(S) – Rousseau
(T) – Le Roy
(V) – Eidous
(X) – Yvon
(Y) – Louis
(Z) – Bellin
(*) – Diderot
(D.J.) – de Jaucourt
(—) – d'Holbach
(V.D.F.) – Forbonnais
(E.R.M.) – Douchet and Beauzée