Michel-Antoine David also David l'aîné (1707, ? – 17 March 1769, Paris) was an 18th-century French printer, publisher and Encyclopédiste during the Age of Enlightenment.[1] He was one of the four printers of the Encyclopédie.
David came from a family of Parisian printers; he was the son of Michel Etienne David. His grandfather was the printer Michel David and his uncle David Christophe (1682–1741). He trained from September 1727 until January 1732 by the Parisian printer Claude-Louis Thiboust. On 2 May 1732, he became a member of the guild of booksellers and printers of Paris and on 1 September 1733 he received his master's certificate.
As a bookseller, he was active in the period from 1732 to 1769 and from 1751 additionally as a publisher. from 1732 to 1769 he lived and worked at various locations in Paris, such as in rue Saint-Jacques (ca. 1751), rue vis-à-vis la grille des Mathurins (ca.1762–1764), rue d'Enfer in the quartier Saint Michel (1765) and finally at (ca. 1768).[2]
David was one of the four publishers of the Encyclopédie whose editors were Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. The other publishers were André le Breton, Antoine-Claude Briasson, and Laurent Durand.
He himself wrote two articles for the Encyclopédie: Catalogue and Droit de copie (see wikisource infra)