Encyclopédie

Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers () was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772. The full title was "Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres, mis en ordre par M. Diderot de l'Académie des Sciences et Belles-Lettres de Prusse, et quant à la partie mathématique, par M. d'Alembert de l'Académie royale des Sciences de Paris, de celle de Prusse et de la Société royale de Londres." 
The "Encyclopédie" was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many people, and it was the first to include applied science and engineering. Still, the "Encyclopédie" is famous above all for representing the thought of the Enlightenment. According to Denis Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the "Encyclopédie"'s aim was "to change the way people think."
The "Encyclopédie" was conceived as a translation of Ephraim Chambers's "Cyclopaedia" (1728). In 1743, the translation was given by the Parisian book publisher André Le Breton to John Mills, an Englishman living in France. In May 1745, Le Breton announced the work as available for sale, but Mills had not done the work. Le Breton beat Mills with a cane. Mills sued for assault, but Le Breton was set free because he was justified. For his new editor, Le Breton chose mathematician Jean Paul de Gua de Malves. In August 1747, Gua de Malves was fired for being a poor leader. Le Breton then hired Diderot and Jean d'Alembert as the new editors. Diderot would remain editor for the next twenty-five years, seeing the "Encyclopédie" through to completion.
Contributors.
Many of the most noted figures of the French Enlightenment contributed to the "Encyclopédie", including Voltaire, Rousseau, and Baron d'Holbach. The most prolific contributor wrote 17,266 articles, or about eight per day, between 1759 and 1765.
Statistics.
Approximate size of the "Encyclopédie":
Print run: 4,250 copies (note: even single-volume works in the 18th Century seldom had a print run of more than 1,500 copies)