To quote or not to quote: Citation strategies in the encyclopedie

Abstract

Ever since the first volume of the Encyclopedie was published in 1751, critics have complained about its liberal, and often unacknowledged, borrowings from other sources.1 The impression that this work, often hailed as the masterpiece of the Enlightenment, was merely cobbled together from bits and pieces of other books was reinforced by the composition method of the most prolific contributor, the Chevalier de Jaucourt, who was known to employ a handful of secretaries, each of whom took dictation as the chevalier read from different texts.