Hieronymus Wilhelm Ebner von Eschenbach (born 22 June 1673, Nuremberg; died 26 January 1752, Engelthal) was a German diplomat, historian, scholar, and founder of the extensive private library Bibliotheca Ebneriana.
[2] After completing his studies at the University of Altdorf, Ebner embarked on a four-year educational journey across Europe in 1691, visiting the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Bohemia, and northern Germany.
[3] Ebner contributed to the cataloging of Nuremberg's public library and imperial city archives, publishing selected documents he deemed of particular significance.
[3] Bibliotheca Ebneriana was built on many smaller collections he had acquired, such as the private library of his uncle Christoph Jacob Imhoff, which he had inherited in 1726.
[1][4] Gottfried Christoph Ranner's five-volume catalogue of Bibliotheca Ebneriana, published in the early-19th century, lists 18,512 titles divided into 11 sections, showing the extensive range and eclectic nature of the collection: encyclopedias; books on the history of Nuremberg, of the Holy Roman Empire, and of Europe; books on Christianity, geography, war history, and fine arts; and literature of Greece and Rome in antiquity, to name a few.