On July 5, 1778, the Swiss Jean-Francois Favarge, a sales representative of the Neuchâtel Printing Society, got on a horse and went on a five-month trip to France, visiting almost every bookstore on his way and compiling a kind of dossier on booksellers. The story of his journey could have formed the plot of a rogue novel, but ended up in the hands of the American scientist Robert Darnton - and formed the basis of a large study on the formation of the book market in 18th century France.