[5] Its creator—Pierre Marchand the "iconophile", as remarked by the German graphic designer Raymond Stoffel[6]—was instrumental in moulding the policy and ideals of the collection, which was an immediate success both in France and internationally.

[7] The first title À la recherche de l'Égypte oubliée (English edition: The Search for Ancient Egypt) appeared on 21 November 1986, authored by the French Egyptologist Jean Vercoutter.

)[10]The books are printed using A6 format (125 × 178 mm), according to Encyclopædia Universalis, "with breathtaking iconography (illustration)" reproduced on thick and glossy coated paper,[7] from which leap two or three images per page.

Each book is composed of a monograph on a particular topic, the whole collection covers all areas of human knowledge and experience,[11] such as archaeology, art, culture, civilisation, history, music, religion, science, et cetera, with 502 specialists' contributions.

Each book begins with 8–10 full-page illustrations or photographs, prefaced by a pull-quote on the inside front cove, which Thames & Hudson director Jamie Camplin calls it a "cinema-influenced trailer"[1] (designated as pré-générique in French).

For the 96th title Champollion : Un scribe pour l'Égypte, this book opens with a succession of reproductions of Champollion's manuscript Grammaire égyptienne; in L'Europe des Celtes (№ 158), the reader is greeted by a series of bronze masks and hoary faces carved in stone;[1] the "trailer" for La Saga de l'espace (№ 3) evokes the tragic launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986; while that of La Tour de Monsieur Eiffel (№ 62) presents the Eiffel Tower at every stage of its construction.

For the 124th title La peur du loup ('Fear of Wolves'), two double-page spreads of reproductions of Gustave Doré's engravings to illustrate Little Red Riding Hood.

Two foldouts in the 16th title Pompéi, la cité ensevelie,[note 1] one showing Léon Jaussely's reconstruction of the forum of Pompeii, the other representing the actual condition of the theatre quarter in 1859 by using Paul-Émile Bonnet's drawings, both in a panoramic view.

On the choice of typeface, for example, Trump Mediaeval for body text, ITC Franklin Gothic for titling, Zapf Dingbats for guillemets, italic for captions with an initial and the last line is underlined, et cetera.

The French editions are printed by Kapp Lahure Jombart in Évreux, while the Italian printer Gianni Stavro, who has largely contributed to the elaboration of new techniques used in the collection, retains his position as collaborator for international reissues and coeditions.

[17] This pocket encyclopaedia initially named Les Chemins de la connaissance ('The Paths of Knowledge'), Pierre Marchand already had the idea when he entered Gallimard in 1972, as he explained: "I have invested fourteen years of my professional life in this collection.

Some have even authored several books, such as Françoise Cachin, curator of the Musée d'Orsay, author of three books – Gauguin : « Ce malgré moi de sauvage »[note 2] (№ 49), Seurat : Le rêve de l'art-science (№ 108), Manet : « J'ai fait ce que j'ai vu »[note 3] (№ 203); the physicist Jean-Pierre Maury, who wrote four titles – Galilée, le messager des étoiles (№ 10), Comment la terre devint ronde (№ 52), Newton et la mécanique céleste[note 4] (№ 91) and Le palais de la Découverte (№ 195); or the historian of religion Odon Vallet [fr], who published seven books in the collection.

Without market research at the start, Pierre Marchand, a self-taught man, explained on the television programme Ça se discute [fr]: "This project was as old as my thirst for knowledge.

Then De Donder showed a list of about one thousand images that he gathered over years, Gallimard was convinced and made him the first non-French-language author published in the collection.

[27] Or reactivity in relation to current events, for instance, the 161st title Sang pour sang, le réveil des vampires was published on 5 January 1993 for the release of Francis Coppola's Dracula in France; and La mine dévoreuse d'hommes (№ 184) for the release of the French film Germinal; Un Conservatoire pour les Arts et Métiers (№ 222) for the bicentennial of the CNAM; La Mode : Un demi-siècle conquérant (№ 511) was on sale on the occasion of "Yves Saint Laurent retrospective" at the Petit Palais in 2010.

Alongside many works dictated by current events, there are also a number of "strange curiosities", such as a book devoted to red hair (№ 338 – Roux et rousses : Un éclat très particulier), which is unusual in this type of collection.

[13] Competition has emerged as early as in the middle of the 1990s, with a gradual decrease in circulation and novelties, but partially offset by the sub-collection entitled Découvertes Gallimard Hors série, which is one of the five spin-offs.

[29] According to Livres Hebdo [fr], these "French-style nonfictions" (documentaires « à la française ») have sold over twenty million copies worldwide as of 1999,[30][31][13] with recently emerging markets in Asia and Eastern Europe, especially in Russia, about 100 titles have been published within four years.

In 2002, during a presentation of "Découvertes Gallimard" in Moscow, the French ambassador to Russia Claude Blanchemaison told a Kommersant correspondent that he just finished reading De Kaboul à Samarcande : Les archéologues en Asie centrale [fr] (№ 411), one of the latest titles from the collection at the time, which he found particularly interesting.

Other partnerships with public or private companies, such as the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (№ 282 – L'atome, de la recherche à l'industrie : Le Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique), Crédit Mutuel (№ 379 – L'odyssée de l'euro), L'Oréal (№ 405 – Les vies du cheveu[note 7]), paper industries (№ 369 – Le papier : Une aventure au quotidien), et cetera.

[36] But in the 1980s, desktop publishing and photo digitisation did not exist, the sophisticated mockups were entirely handmade and the iconographers ran around museums, libraries, painting galleries and other agencies to look for documents.

But when it comes to a topic like "pain" (№ 370 – La douleur : Un mal à combattre) or "sustainable development" (№ 495 – Le développement durable : Maintenant ou jamais), it becomes more delicate.

The question is how to avoid repetitiveness or the flatly illustrative image, the solution lies in a broadening field, through the use of historical documents, works of art and film stills.

They share the same culture and values, their office is intentionally built like a vessel, with Marchand as captain on the bridge, and anyone, at any time, is free to contribute with his/her own ideas about authors, pictures, front covers..., and becomes leader of a project.

Despite an interesting concept: the use of still images from Gaumont archives for "Une autre histoire du XXe siècle", this series has had mixed success.

As for the "Documents" section, though some co-publishers print the entire French version, Thames & Hudson reformulates this part, tailoring the material to suit the nuances of the UK market.

[1] French weekly magazine Télérama praised "Découvertes Gallimard", described the work as: "they borrow suspense from the cinema, have efficiency of the journalism, literary temperament is their charm, and art is their beauty".

[46] In his review for Die Zeit, the German literary scholar and historian Gerhard Prause [de] wrote that the collection is an "adventure stands for surprise, excitement and amusement.

[48] Art critic John Russell considered these books contain unique information, such as Aelian's authority on the musicality of the elephant or the precise look of Halley's Comet as it was depicted in 1835.

[49] Eduardo Gudiño Kieffer of La Nación also gave the collection a positive review, writing, "The books are excellent assistants for intellectuals, writers, journalists and students of different aspects of the culture, [...] they contain accurate and pithy information.