Special Collections Open House: Diderot's Encyclopédie

Davis Family Library, Room 101, Special Collections

Middlebury owns all 35 volumes of Denis Diderot’s Encyclopédie, a founding work of the Enlightenment. For the first time in recent memory, we’re displaying them all, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the final volume’s publication. With its 75,000 entries, 20 million words, and 2,569 richly detailed illustrated plates, the Encyclopedie aimed to “change the way people think” and encompass “all the knowledge scattered on the surface of the earth.”

The open house from 1pm-5pm will be followed by a lecture (in French) by French Language School professor Sylvie Requemora at 7pm.