 The first encyclopedia to include biographies of living people was the 64-volume "Grosses Universal-Lexicon" (published 1732–1759) of Johann Heinrich Zedler, who argued that death alone should not render people notable.The "Britannica" was the idea of Colin Macfarquhar, a bookseller and printer, and Andrew Bell, an engraver, both of Edinburgh.They conceived of the "Britannica" as a conservative reaction to the French "Encyclopédie" of Denis Diderot (published 1751–1766), which was widely viewed as heretical.