Main entry:

Darnton, Robert, author.

Title & Author:

The business of enlightenment : a publishing history of the Encyclopédie, 1775-1800 / Robert Darnton.

Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, [1979]
©1979

Description:

xiv, 624 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 611-617) and index.
I. Introduction: The biography of a book -- II. The genesis of a speculation in publishing -- The Neuchâtel reprint plan -- From the reprint to the revised edition -- Joseph Duplain and his quarto 'Encyclopédie -- Publishing, politics, and Panckoucke -- From the revised edition to the quarto -- The Paris conference of 1777 -- The basis of a 'Bonne Affaire' -- III. Juggling editions -- The "second edition" -- The origins of the "third edition" -- Imbroglios -- The Neuchâtel imprint -- Opening gambits of the final negotiations -- Duel by 'Lettre Ostensible' -- The last turn of the screw -- The contract -- IV. Piracy and trade war -- Pirate raids -- The octavo publishers and their 'Encyclopédie' -- The origins of the quarto-octavo war -- The final failure of diplomacy -- Open war -- Pourparlers for peace -- A Drôle de Paix -- V. Bookmaking -- Strains on the production system -- Procuring paper -- Copy -- Recruiting workers -- Setting wages -- Pacing work and managing labor -- Printing: Technology and the human element -- VI. Diffusion -- Managerial problems and polemics -- Marketing -- Booksellers -- Prices and consumers -- The sales pattern -- Subscribers, a case study -- Diffusion in France -- Diffusion outside France -- Reading -- VII. Settling accounts -- The hidden schism of 1778 -- A preliminary 'Règlement de Comptes' -- The feud between Duplain and the STN -- Marketing maneuvers -- The Perrin affair -- The anatomy of a swindle -- The final confrontation in Lyons -- Dénouement -- Epilogue -- VIII. The ultimate Encyclopédie -- The origins of the Encyclopédie méthodique -- The climactic moment in enlightenment publishing -- The Liégeois settlement -- Panckoucke's conception of the supreme Encyclopédie -- Panckoucke as an editor -- The authors of the Méthodique -- Two generations of encyclopedists -- From Voltairianism to professionalism -- Launching the biggest book of the century -- IX. Encyclopedism, capitalism, and revolution -- Panckoucke's folly -- From encyclopedism to Jacobinism -- An enlightenment publisher in a cultural revolution -- The last of the encyclopedists -- X. Conclusion -- The production and diffusion of enlightenment -- Enlightenment publishing and the spirit of capitalism -- The Encyclopédie and the state -- The cultural revolution -- Appendices: -- A. Contracts of the Encyclopédie publishers, 1776-1780 -- B. Subscriptions to the quarto Encyclopédie -- C. Incidence of subscriptions in major French cities -- D. Contributors to the Encyclopédie Méthodique.
American Historical Association Leo Gershoy Award, 1979.

Summary:

In tracing the publishing story of Diderot's Encyclopédie, Darnton uses new sources--the papers of eighteenth-century publishers--that allow him to respond firmly to a set of problems long vexing historians. He shows how the material basis of literature and the technology of its production affected the substance and diffusion of ideas. He fully explores the workings of the literary market place, including the roles of publishers, book dealers, traveling salesmen, and other intermediaries in cultural communication. How publishing functioned as a business, and how it fit into the political as well as the economic systems of pre-revolutionary Europe are set forth. The making of books touched on this vast range of activities because books were products of artisanal labor, objects of economic exchange, vehicles of ideas, and elements in political and religious conflict.

Resources:
ACLS Humanities E-Book
Table of contents
Table of contents
French equivalent / Équivalent français
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required:

ISBN:

0674087852
9780674087859
067408786X

Subject:

Encyclopédie.
Collection Encyclopédie.
Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers
Encyclopedias and dictionaries, French.
Publishing history
Encyclopédies et dictionnaires français.
Buchdruck
Buchhandel
Entstehung
Uitgeven.
Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (encyclopedie)
Verlichting (cultuurgeschiedenis)
Publishers and publishing France History 18th century.
French language Dictionaries.
Encyclopedie, ou, Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des metiers

Form/genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Annotations.

Holdings:

Location: Library study room 140621
Call No.: PO7680 AE25.A6 REF; ID:85-B26014
Status: Available