Charles-Joseph Panckoucke (26 November 1736 - 19 December 1798) was a French writer and publisher, notable for the Encyclopédie méthodique, a successor to the Encyclopédie of Diderot.

He was born in Lille; his father Andre Joseph Panckoucke (1700-1753) was a writer and book printer there. Charles-Joseph went to Paris in 1754.

He first suggested to Diderot the preparation of a supplement to the Encyclopédie in 1769, but was turned down. Nevertheless, Panckoucke secured a license to publish the supplement in 1775, and it appeared as four volumes in 1776 and 1777. Panckoucke also published two volumes of index to the Encyclopédie, prepared by Pierre Mouchon , and appearing in 1780.

Panckoucke's great effort was the Encyclopédie méthodique, a new encyclopedia with the subject matter organized by 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 partner Henri Agasse ) publishing the last of 166 volumes in 1832.

Panckouke also published the magazines Mercure de France , and established the Moniteur in November 1789.

His son Charles Louis Fleury Panckoucke continued in the writing and publishing business as well.

Reference

• Robert Collison, Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout the Ages, 2nd ed. (New York, London: Hafner 1966) pp. 134-135