Jacques Philippe d’Orville’s Grand Tour: a European trip in search of libraries, manuscripts, and ancient books

Abstract

For over two years, the Dutch bibliophile and classical scholar Jacques Philippe d’Or- ville (1696-1751) travelled through Europe, visiting not only the greatest libraries of his age, but also private libraries and those located in monasteries and churches. During his trip he wrote a diary that it is today preserved in the Bodleian library in Oxford. The purpose of this article is to describe his travels and to identify the manuscripts and printed editions mentioned in his diary: a task that unveils the variety of interests he had and helps towards understanding his research method.