Studies on the French Encyclopedie - the text and the plates considered from different points of view

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This study examines the way in which some encyclopedistes like Diderot developed theoretical arguments or practical methods necessary to defend their Encyclopedice BY choosing the idea of genetic process who runs throughout the whole body of this dictionary, we can expose the constitutive elements of their enterprise as follows:1) Chain of ideas : In March, 1745, a printed prospectus appeared, announcing the publication of an Encyclopedie, translated from Chambers' Cyclopaedia. The genealogical tree of all forms of knowledge, given in the first volume of l'Encyclopedie, is much more fully developed than that of its English model, being adapted from the scheme set out by Francis Bacon. This figure of a tree reveals a growing spread of the system of cross-references in the late 1740s.2) Intertextuality : We aim, through a study of the links between Buffon and l'Encyclopedie, at showing the originality of the encyclopedistes approach to the natural history.3) Study of plates : This work considers the question of how to read, search and analyse images such as that of the Encyclopedie. The digital micro-scope which magnifies its Plates from 25 to 175 times, is an invitation to have a new look at past engraving and to see whether its use enables us to define more rigourously the specific technique of sculptors.4) Role of the ancient art of the memory : From the middle age to the mid-18^<th> century, the art of the memory reigned virtually unchallenged in Europe. The publication of the l'Encyclopedie, inspired by the works of Bacon, raises certain fundamental questions concerning the tradition of the mnemonics.