Further information on this digital resource can be found on our website www.amdigital.co.uk.

The Grand Tour, c1550-1850, was a rite-of-passage for many aristocratic and wealthy young men of the eighteenth century: a phenomenon which shaped the creative and intellectual sensibilities of some of the eighteenth century’s greatest artists, writers and thinkers.

This collection of manuscript, visual and printed works allows scholars to explore this phenomenon from every angle. We include letters; diaries and journals; account books; printed guidebooks; published travel writing; paintings and sketches; architectural drawings and maps. Many sources are from private or neglected archives.

This is a wonderful source of information about daily life in the eighteenth century, highlighting such everyday issues as transportation, money, communications, food and drink, health and sex.

The material covers European political and religious life, British diplomacy; life at court, and social customs on the Continent, material culture, taste and collecting.

There is also a wealth of detail about cities such as Paris, Geneva, Venice, Rome, Florence and Naples, that will excite both urban and architectural historians.

• Manuscripts by Sir William Hamilton, Sir Thomas Hoby, Richard Lassels, Sir Philip Sidney, John Evelyn, Charles Burney and Joseph Spence and many others.

• Much on female travellers, such as Lady Hester Stanhope and Elizabeth Craven.

• Rare travel accounts, guide books, histories and accounts of religious and political life.
  

• Visual material is also great strength, with paintings and sketches of Italy and the Continent, as well as portraits of Grand Tourists, by artists including Turner, Batoni, Wilson, Rowlandson and Wright of Derby.
  

• Hundreds of original photos linked to maps of the Grand Tour.
  

• Rich biographical details from the Brinsley Ford Archive.
  

• Sources from British, American and Italian libraries and museums.