Marc-Antoine Eidous

Planche Art héraldique de l’Encyclopédie, vol. II

Marc-Antoine Eidous (1715–c.1790) was a French writer, translator and Encyclopedist^[1] born in Marseille.

Marc-Antoine Eidous – or Eydoux – was born in Marseille on 18 February 1715 and was baptised the next day at St. Martin.^[2] His death date remains to be checked.

His translations included works on the subjects of philosophy, travel and agriculture by English and Scottish authors:

• The Dictionnaire universel de médecine (Paris, 1746–1748, 6 folio volumes) with Denis Diderot, Julien Busson and François-Vincent Toussaint from the Medicinal Dictionary of Robert James
• Reflexions sur l'Origine des Nations, tirées de leur langage, (1750);
• Histoire de la poésie (1764), by John Brown
• Métaphysique de l'âme, ou Théorie des sentiments moraux (1764), translating The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) by Adam Smith
• Agriculture complète, ou l'Art d'améliorer les terres (1765) from The whole art of husbandry, or, the way of managing and improving of land (1707) by John Mortimer
• The Voyages depuis S. Pétersbourg en Russie dans diverses contrées de l'Asie... (1766), from Travels from St. Petersburg in Russia, to diverse parts of Asia (1764) by John Bell
• The Œuvres philosophiques (Philosophical Works) of Francis Hutcheson
• Dissertation historique et politique sur la population de l'ancien tems comparée ace celle du nôtre (Amsterdam, 1769), from Robert Wallace's A Dissertation on the Numbers of Mankind in Ancient and Modern Times (1753)

Eidous also contributed to the Encyclopédie, including an entry on heraldry (blason).

References

1. Frank A. Kafker: Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie. 1989, Volume 7, Numéro 7, p. 139
2. Archives départementales des Bouches-du-Rhône, online BMD registers, Marseille, St. Martin, 1715, fol. 557 (slide 22/158).