The New International Encyclopædia/Encyclopédie

ENCYCLOPÉDIE, äN'sḗ'klṓ'pắ'dḗ', ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (Fr., Encyclopædia, or classified dictionary of sciences, arts, and trades). A celebrated French work, published by Diderot and D'Alembert at Paris in 1751-72, which in philosophy, religion, and politics voiced the prevailing tendencies of the time. It appeared in twenty-eight volumes, to which five supplementary volumes (Amsterdam, 1776-77) and an index in two volumes (Paris, 1780) were added. The undertaking was due to the success of Chambers's Cyclopædia in England, but the French work surpassed all its predecessors in completeness and philosophical spirit. Among the collaborators were many of the great writers of the day — Rousseau, Grimm, Montesquieu, and Voltaire, in addition to the principal editors. The work aroused violent opposition and encountered many obstacles, its publication being repeatedly suspended by the Government, but was carried to completion largely through the secret aid of Madame de Pompadour. It gave rise to the term ‘Encyclopédistes,’ by which those who accepted it's philosophy were called. See Encyclopædia.