The first edition of the world’s first set of encylopedia, the Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, will be undergoing restoration thanks to the support of the Institute for Maltese Culture.

Thanks to the intervention of New Leaf, the voluntary organisation set up to preserve and digitise the books at the National Library of Malta, an agreement was reached, whereby the institute has offered €26,600 for the preservation of these unique volumes. Resotration works will be carried out as part of a four-year-long project on the 28 volumes.

“These works are very important, not only because they represent the full series in one location, but also due to their content. The volumes hail back to the period of the Enlightenment,” said Madame Marie-Amélie Gleizes-Dewavrin, the institute’s president.

The books were compiled by Denis Diderot and Jean le Ronde D’Alembert, whose objective was to “gather all the knowledge in the world”. Contributors include Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. The volumes were published between 1751 and 1772.

The presentation of the first completed volume took place on December 4 during a ceremony at the National Library in the presence of French Ambassador Michel Vandepoorter. Guests from the French community, historians and New Leaf volunteers attended the event.

The Institute for Maltese Culture has been involved in many projects since its inception and was responsible for restoring the archives, catacombs and chapels of St Cataldus and for supporting Alain Blondy’s book, Malta, 7000 Years of History.

Information on this project will be published as it progresses on www.maltaculture.org and www.newleaf.org.mt.