Andrew Lycett

Not so dryasdust: how 18th-century antiquarians proved the first ‘modern’ historians

Solitary scholars, often derided as pedants, actually broadened the study of history to include coins, costumes, heraldry and many other byways, says Rosemary Hill

Alexandre Lenoir, founder of the Musée des monuments français, in a portrait by Pierre Maximilien Delafontaine [Alamy]

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