This collection of manuscript, visual and printed works, including many from private sources, allows scholars to compare a range of documents on the history of this travel. Together the documents form a rich source of information about daily life in the eighteenth century, highlighting such everyday issues as transport, money, communications, food and drink, health and sex. The material also covers European political and religious life, British diplomacy, life at court, and social customs on the continent.

It is also an invaluable resource for the study of Europe’s urban spaces, with a wealth of detail about cities such as Paris, Rome, Florence and Geneva, including written accounts and visual representations of street life, architecture and urban planning.