"THIS MATCHLESS SERIES of the Works of this distinguished Author was
formed with unwearied diligence by his Biographer, the late Mr.
Walter Wilson, during the greater portion of his life.
"The numbers to 208 refer to the Catalogue of the Works as published
in his _Life of Defoe_, 3 vols. 1830; those following have been
discovered by Mr. Wilson since the period of the publication. This
Collection is rendered still further to complete by the addition of
upwards of forty pieces by a recent possessor. The extreme
difficulty of forming such a collection as the present is very
apparent when we compare its voluminous contents with those very few
collections which, during the last fifty years, have on the
dispersion of celebrated libraries occurred for sale."