Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (; 26 November 1736 – 19 December 1798) was a French writer and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. He was responsible for numerous influential publications of the era, including the literary journal ''Mercure de France'' and the ''

Encyclopédie Méthodique The ''Encyclopédie méthodique par ordre des matières'' ("Methodical Encyclopedia by Order of Subject Matter") was published between 1782 and 1832 by the French publisher Charles Joseph Panckoucke, his son-in-law Henri Agasse, and the latter's ...

'', a successor to the ''

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' by

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

. Panckoucke was born in the city of

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

, where his father André-Joseph Panckoucke (1700–1753) was a writer and book printer. Charles-Joseph settled in Paris in 1754, and established his own bookshop in 1762. He reused many of engraver

Robert Bénard Robert Bénard (1734 in Paris – 1777) was a French engraver. Specialized in the technique of engraving, Robert Bénard is mainly famous for having supplied a significant amount of plates (at least 1,800) to the ''Encyclopédie ''Encyclop ...

's productions to illustrate the works of his catalog. His first suggestion of a supplement to the ''Encyclopédie'', in 1769 was turned down by Diderot, but Panckoucke persisted. By 1775, Panckoucke had secured a license to publish his supplement, and it appeared as five volumes in 1776 and 1777. Panckoucke also published two volumes of

index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...

to the ''Encyclopédie'', prepared by

Pierre Mouchon Pierre Mouchon (30 July 1733 – 20 August 1797) was an 18th-century Genevan pastor, best remembered for being the author of the ''Table analytique et raisonnée...'' (index) of the ''Encyclopédie'' by Diderot and D'Alembert. Biography The son ...

, and appearing in 1780. Panckoucke's great effort was the ''Encyclopédie Méthodique'', an expansion and rearrangement of the ''Encyclopédie'', with the subject matter organized by subject area rather than alphabetically. He received the license in 1780, and published a first prospectus in 1782. The work outlived him, with his daughter Thérèse-Charlotte Agasse (widow of Panckoucke's partner Henri Agasse) publishing the last of 166 volumes in 1832. Shortly before the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, Panckouke also began publishing the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published ...

'', and established the '' Moniteur Universel'' in November 1789. The ''Mercure de France'' was a venerable publication of great influence among the French arts and humanities, and it has been called the most important literary journal in prerevolutionary France. He died, aged 62, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Panckoucke's son, Charles Louis Fleury Panckoucke, continued in the writing and publishing business as well.

References

* Robert Collison, ''Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout the Ages'', 2nd ed. (New York, London: Hafner 1966) pp. 134–135. * Robert Darton, ''The business of enlightenment: a publishing history of the Encyclope'die'', (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University 1979). {{DEFAULTSORT:Panckoucke, Charles-Joseph 1736 births 1798 deaths Writers from Lille Charles-Joseph Newspaper editors of the French Revolution Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery French male essayists 18th-century essayists 18th-century French male writers