André Le Breton
Encyclopedia
André François le Breton (1708–1779) was a French publisher. He was one of the four publishers of the Encyclopédie
of Diderot and d'Alembert
, along with Michel-Antoine David, Laurent Durand, and Antoine-Claude Briasson. Le Breton contributed some articles to the Encyclopédie (see External links, below), but acted primarily as publisher and editor, often against Diderot's will.
In 1745, le Breton set out to publish a translation of Ephraim Chambers
' Cyclopaedia of 1728. He initially chose Jean Paul de Gua de Malves
as his editor, but he tired of the job after two years, and in 1747, the editorship went to Diderot. For a more detailed account, see Encyclopédie
.
Le Breton would occasionally censor
articles in order to make them less radical, frequently drawing the ire of Diderot. According to Grimm, writing in 1777, "The entire extent of the injury done by this unexampled, murderous, and infamous depredation will never be known, since the perpetrators of the crime burned the manuscript as soon as it was printed and left the evil without remedy." This claim has proved not to be true for, unknown to Grimm, le Breton had kept copies of the page proofs.
In the 20th century, these proofs were used to reveal the extent of le Breton's censorship, which was most prominent in the articles "Sarrasins ou Arabes" and "Pyrrhoniene philosophie." In the latter case, le Breton edited Diderot's original article to be less favorable towards Pierre Bayle
, a 17th century philosopher whose views were deemed unacceptable.
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
of Diderot and d'Alembert
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. He was also co-editor with Denis Diderot of the Encyclopédie...
, along with Michel-Antoine David, Laurent Durand, and Antoine-Claude Briasson. Le Breton contributed some articles to the Encyclopédie (see External links, below), but acted primarily as publisher and editor, often against Diderot's will.
In 1745, le Breton set out to publish a translation of Ephraim Chambers
Ephraim Chambers
Ephraim Chambers was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or a Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.-Early life:...
' Cyclopaedia of 1728. He initially chose Jean Paul de Gua de Malves
Jean Paul de Gua de Malves
Jean Paul de Gua de Malves was a French mathematician who published in 1740 a work on analytical geometry in which he applied it, without the aid of differential calculus, to find the tangents, asymptotes, and various singular points of an algebraic curve.He further showed how singular points and...
as his editor, but he tired of the job after two years, and in 1747, the editorship went to Diderot. For a more detailed account, see Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie
Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
.
Le Breton would occasionally censor
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
articles in order to make them less radical, frequently drawing the ire of Diderot. According to Grimm, writing in 1777, "The entire extent of the injury done by this unexampled, murderous, and infamous depredation will never be known, since the perpetrators of the crime burned the manuscript as soon as it was printed and left the evil without remedy." This claim has proved not to be true for, unknown to Grimm, le Breton had kept copies of the page proofs.
In the 20th century, these proofs were used to reveal the extent of le Breton's censorship, which was most prominent in the articles "Sarrasins ou Arabes" and "Pyrrhoniene philosophie." In the latter case, le Breton edited Diderot's original article to be less favorable towards Pierre Bayle
Pierre Bayle
Pierre Bayle was a French philosopher and writer best known for his seminal work the Historical and Critical Dictionary, published beginning in 1695....
, a 17th century philosopher whose views were deemed unacceptable.
External links
- Encre noire, the EncyclopédieEncyclopédieEncyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It was edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert...
article written by le Breton (in French)