Antiquarian, a person who occupies himself with the research and study of monuments of antiquity, such as ancient medals, books, statues, sculptures, and inscriptions—in a word, whatever can give him insight into the subject. See Antiquity; see also Monument, Medal, Inscription, Sculpture, Statue, etc.

In former times, there were various other sorts of antiquarians . Librarians or copyists (that is to say, those who transcribed in beautiful and legible characters that which before had been written only in notes), were called antiquarians . See Librarian. They were also called calligraphers. See Calligraphy. In the principal towns of Greece and Italy, there were other distinguished people that were called antiquarians , whose function was to point out the antiquities of the town to strangers, to explain the ancient inscriptions to them, and to assist them as best they could in this genre of erudition.

An establishment so useful to the public and so charming to the curious certainly merits a place among us. Pausanias called these people antiquarians ; the Sicilians gave them the name “mystagogues.”