Western Civilization II / Unit 6 WC2 0512 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Encyclopedia, 1751: Diderot, d'Alembert, and Pirated Chapters
Captions available
The idea
Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie began in seventeen fifty-one and, the witness says, ran to seventeen seventy-two: twenty-eight volumes and sixty thousand articles by the anchor's count, most by other philosophes, organized to refute church and state knowledge and to catalog every trade.
In practice
Too expensive for most; pirated chapters spread it.
Where people slip
The counts are the anchor's; other sources give more articles.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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