A unique study of the Enlightenment
A funny biography written for the sake of a book
For most people, the European Enlightenment of the 18th century was abstract. The Business of the Enlightenment: A History of the Encyclopedia (1775-1800) restores this great ideological emancipation movement to a vivid picture. The struggle around the encyclopedia's drafting, writing, editing, printing, sales and other links has been almost all wrapped up in the publication process of the encyclopedia in continental Europe, from the princes and aristocrats to the ordinary people, and thus into the torrent of ideological enlightenment. None of the publishers, who played an important role, had no mission to spread the Enlightenment, but their fierce competition for the publication of the Encyclopedia promoted the Enlightenment in Europe. It can be said that the Age of Enlightenment led to the publication of the Encyclopedia, and the Encyclopedia created and promoted the Age of Enlightenment. This book is not only enlightening for researchers of the Enlightenment, but also has a lot of experience and lessons worth learning from today's publishing practitioners.
- Editor's Choice
History of the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment (1775-1800) (New Cultural History Classics Translation Series)
By Robert Darnton
Translated by Ye Tong and Gu Hang, published in January 2023
ISBN：978-7-100-21642-5
【Introduction】This book is one of the masterpieces of the famous European cultural historian Robert Darnton. Based on tens of thousands of archival materials from the Neuchâtel Printing Company, it examines in detail the close relationship between the publication and distribution of the Encyclopedia in the second half of the 18th century and the social conditions of the time, meticulously outlines the "life" of the Encyclopedia, covers all aspects of book making, dissemination, piracy, etc., shows the intricate relationship between the writers, publishers, printers, printers, printers and readers of the Enlightenment, and reveals how the Enlightenment, as a great movement of ideological emancipation, became a business.
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English version cover
【About the author】
Robert Darnton (1939—), received his Ph.D. from Oxford University in 1964, taught at Princeton and Harvard since 1968, served as president of the American Historical Association, is now a professor at Harvard University, director of the Harvard University Library, a well-known expert in European cultural history, and an authority on book history. He and his books have won several academic and book awards. His major works include "The Cat Slaughter Carnival", "The Business of the Enlightenment: A History of the Encyclopedia (1775-1800)", "La Molet's Kiss: Reflections on Cultural History", "Washington's Dentures: An Atypical Guide to the Eighteenth Century", "Best-Selling Banned Books Before the French Revolution", etc.
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Robert Darnton
【About the translator】
Ye Tong, Master of Arts, editor of Life•Reading•New Knowledge Triple Bookstore.
Gu Hang, Ph.D. in History, is an associate professor at the Institute of Global History, Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, and co-translated "French Historical Thought in the 19th and 20th Centuries", "German View of History", "Opium for Intellectuals", "Traditional Inventions", etc.
Contents
Thanks
Terminology and spelling descriptions
Chapter 1 Introduction: A biography of a book
Chapter II: The Beginning of a Speculative Business
Neuchâtel's reprint plans From reprint to revision Joseph Duplanand the four-folio Encyclopedia Publishing, Politics and Pomcock From revised edition to quadrifolio The Paris Conference of 1777 The basis of a good business?
Chapter Three: Various Versions of the Trick
"Second Edition" The origin of the "Third Edition" Chaotic situation in the name of Neuchâtel Prelude to the Final Negotiations With an "Open Letter" fighting method The last buckle of the screw contract
Chapter IV: Piracy and Commercial Wars
The invasion of pirates The eight-folio publishers and their Encyclopedia The origin of the four-folio war The last failure of diplomacy The war of openness Negotiation for peace Peculiar peace
Chapter V: Making Books
The production system is overwhelmed Access to paper "manuscripts" Recruitment of workers Setting wage standards Adjusting the pace of wages and managing workers Printing: technical and human factors
Chapter VI: Communication
Management Issues and Debates Sales Booksellers Price and Consumer Sales Models Subscribers, a Case Study Spread in France Spread outside France Reading
Chapter VII Liquidation
In 1778, the hidden split Preliminary settlement of the dispute between Duplann and the company of Neuchâtel Marketing strategy Perrin Incident Anatomy of a scam in Lyon, the final resistance of the ending epilogue
Chapter 8: The Final Encyclopedia
The origin of the Encyclopedia of Methods The pinnacle of Enlightenment publishing The solution of Liège Poncock's idea of the ultimate Encyclopedia Poncock as editor Author of the Encyclopedia of Methods Two generations of encyclopedists From Voltaireism to Professionalism Launching the largest book of the 18th century
Chapter IX Encyclopedism, Capitalism, and Revolution
Poncook's folly From Encyclopalateism to Jacobinism, An Enlightenment Publisher in the Cultural Revolution, The Last Encyclopedist
Chapter X Conclusion
Production and dissemination of the Enlightenment Publishing and the spirit of capitalism of the Enlightenment Encyclopedia and the revolution of government culture
appendix
Description of references
index
Post-editorial notes
Robert Darnton's cat slaughter carnival French cultural history hooked
Robert Darnton by Lu Jianzhong Translated 9787100162975 Commercial Press 2018 Edition In the late 30s of the 18th century, on rue Saint-Severen in Paris, a group of printers abused and slaughtered all the cats around the factory, including their master's pet cat. The book explains this bizarre event in detail, which begins the way 18th-century French think—not just what people think, but how they think—and provides an in-depth and easy-to-understand look at French cultural history by interpreting fairy tales such as "The Story of Mother Goose" and "The Story of Little Red Riding Hood," as well as various cultural phenomena such as police archives and knowledge trees. This book is full of strange and interesting discussions, which to a certain extent marks the maturity of the theory and research methods of the new school of cultural history, and can be called a classic. Washington's dentures are not a typical eighteenth-century guide
By Robert Darnton
Translated by Yang Xiaomin
9787100107907
Commercial Press 2014 edition
Over the past two centuries, Europe has torn itself apart, while on the periphery, in Ireland, Russia and the Balkan countries, it remains fragmented. In order to engage with their shared past, Europeans had to leapfrog the 19th and 20th centuries and leap backwards to reconsider the scope of life of 18th-century Europeans.
George Washington may be surprised today with a pair of dentures and decades of toothache, but this "weird" phenomenon was not uncommon in the 18th century. The Enlightenment originated partly from the salons, cafes, and theaters of Paris; In the streets of Paris, the chatter, songs and poems are inextricably linked to the French Revolution; Brissot, a staunch revolutionary, may have been an agent of the police; Famous figures such as Voltaire, Condorcet, Rousseau and other unknown faces...