`titrebThe Encyclopedia out of the book`/titrebThe Encyclopedia published by the Enlightenment thinkers contains all the conceptual elements able to renew the encyclopedic genre outside the book. We think more specifically about the concepts of viewpoint and of cross-reference defined from the Prospectus and Prelimary Discourse to the Encyclopedia, because the cross-references from one entry to another entry in the Encyclopedia take the place of the components of the book belonging to the paratextual apparatus. By requesting the involvement of the reader in the setting of the chain of knowledge, the editors of the Encyclopedia free him from the book. They sensed since the beginning of their project that the book was not appropriate for visualizing the encyclopedic order of human knowledge. Indeed, by increasing the number of viewpoints and combining in this way several layouts of knowledge, the achievement of the Encyclopedia questions the requirements for a book‘s composition.We consider in this article how the Encyclopedia can be read as an Encyclopedia and how it sustains our thought for the epistemology corresponding to the knowledge developing outside the book. Finally, we shall examine from this standpoint how the editors of the Encyclopedia developed the notions of representation and visualization of knowledge.