The abbé mallet's unsigned contribution to the encyclopédie

This article proposes a system for identifying unsigned theological articles by the abbé Edme Mallet in Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie. Beginning with sources cited exclusively by Mallet among contributors to the Encyclopédie, we are led to a group of articles which, apart from being attributable to Mallet, contain expressions that are particular to him and that may serve in turn as search criteria. Conducting further searches with each of these expressions allows us to identify a relatively large number of anonymous articles whose common authorship is, in several instances, confirmed by cross-references. Establishing a significant presence of unsigned articles by Mallet, particularly in the later volumes of the Encyclopédie, calls into question prior assump tions as to the nature and extent of his contribution. In contrast with the traditional view that Mallet's participation was primarily limited to the early volumes, this article relies on evidence that indicates he provided manuscripts for the entire Encyclopédie in fulflment of his original contract prior to the publication of the Prospectus.