Between 1780 and 1805 Dubrovsky worked in the Board of foreign affairs as a churchman at the Russian ambassadorial church in Paris and as a secretary-translator for embassies in France and Holland.

[6] In February 1800, Dubrovsky returned to Petersburg with a collection of 400 Western European medieval manuscripts, miniatures, and early books.

[4] As part of his duties, Dubrovsky examined and described 11,000 manuscripts dispatched from the Załuski Library, after the second Partition of Poland and Kościuszko Uprising.

Dubrovsky wrote: "Жизнь наша коротка, все условия, все награды с нею кончаются, но полезное для ума человеческого служит до окончания мира" (Our life is short, all conditions, all awards with it come to an end, but useful to the mind of human serves before the termination of the world).

[4] According to Graham Stewart, a journalist: "We should recognise that Dubrovsky did not just Russia a favour, but also the world," because he rescued many manuscripts from possible destruction.