The collection of Americana of which this is a Catalogue forms only a part of the library of its owner. In its preparation no effort has been spared to make it as accurate and comprehensive as possible. Carefully prepared collations have been given of every work, including its plates and maps, to the latter of which insufficient attention has hitherto been paid.

The aim of these collations has been to aid in the identification of the editions or issues described. These collations are followed by bibliographical notes showing the differences which exist in various copies, editions, and issues; and by references to important catalogues and bibliographies in which these works have previously appeared. To aid still further in the identification of the works here described, free use has been made of photographic facsimile reproductions of title-pages, colophons, and other interesting features.

The chronological order of arrangement has been adopted as being the only one by which the works of contemporaneous writers can be kept together, and the gradual and natural growth of the subject unfolded. The sizes of the books herein described have been determined by their fold rather than by their dimensions, according to the rules formulated for that purpose by the Bodleian Library, at Oxford.

Thanks to the interest shown in this work by librarians of public libraries and private collectors, this Catalogue gives the location of other copies of the same books in about fifty libraries in this country; so that, in addition to being a catalogue of a single private collection, it is in a great measure a catalogue of the rarest works of American history to be found in the most important libraries in the United States and England, and to a lesser degree in some other countries.--George Watson Cole, Church