While many are familiar with the famous Enlightenment-era encyclopedia edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, fewer may be familiar with the influential encyclopedia known as the Dictionnaire de Trévoux, first published nearly 50 years earlier in 1704. Nicknamed after the French town of Trévoux in which the book was originally published, the Dictionnaire was issued several times during the 18th century. The prospectus above advertises the last edition of 1771, which was available by subscription. Printed in two colors (red and black), which required two separate passes through the printing press, it was an expensive advertisement for a large and expensive work. No fewer than 15 booksellers pooled their resources to finance the publication of this quintessential work of the Enlightenment. Read more about the Dictionnaire de Trévoux and our collection of booksellers’ and publishers’ prospectuses in this blog post.
Read the entire prospectus and nearly 40,000 other French pamphlets, advertisements, and historical documents in our free Internet Archive collection!
