IV PREFACE. 



The present volume embraces 2,245 titular entries, of which 1,926 relate to printed 

 books and articles, and 319 to manuscripts. Of these, 2,014 have been seen and de- 

 scribed by the compiler — 1,850 of the prints and 164 of the manuscripts, leaving as 

 derived from outside sources 231 — 76 of the prints and 155 manuscripts. Of those 

 unseen by the writer, titles and descriptions of probably one-half have been received 

 from persons who have actually seen the works and described them for him. 



In addition to these there are given 130 full titles of printed covers, second and 

 third volumes, etc., all of which with one exception have been seen and described 

 by the compiler ; while in the notes mention is made of 243 printed and manuscript 

 works, 146 of which have been seen and 97 derived from other (mostly printed) 

 sources. 



So far as possible, during the proof-reading of this volume comparison has been 

 made direct with the respective works. For this purpose, besides his own books, the 

 writer has had access to those in the libraries of Congress, the Bureau of Ethnology, 

 the Smithsonian Institution, Maj. J. W. Powell, and several other private collections 

 in the city of Washington. Mr. Wilberforce Eames has compared the titles of works 

 <}ontained in his own library and in the Lenox, and frequent recourse has been had to 

 the various librarians throughout the country for tracings, photographs, etc. The 

 result is that of the 2,014 works described de visu, comparison of proof has been made 

 direct with the original sources in the case of 1,711. In this later reading, collations 

 and descriptions have been entered into more fully than had previously been done, 

 and capital letters treated with more severity. 



Endeavor has been made to acknowledge throughout the work the obligations 

 under which the writer has placed himself in the preparation of this material. To a 

 number, however, he is under a greater indebtedness than could be properly men- 

 tioned in the body of the work. This is notably true of Mr. Wilberforce Eames, who 

 has contributed not only his constant aid and advice in bibliographic matters, in 

 which he is so well versed, but who has also furnished almost bodily a number of 

 special articles included within these pages — those relating to the publications of the 

 Apostle Eliot, the Indiane primer, Ly kins, Mather, Mayhew, Meeker, Pierson, Quinney, 

 Rawson, Sergeant, and Simerwell, besides many new titles, biographic material, etc. 

 From the Rev. J. E. Jones, of St. Mary's College, Montreal, much information has 

 l)een received concerning the earlier missionaries of Canada ; the Reverend Fathers 

 Beaudet and Hamel of the Laval University, Quebec, have been especially kind in 

 giving information concerning the printed and manuscript material contained in the 

 library of that institution and in that of the archiepiscopal residence at Quebec* Sim- 

 ilar kindnesses have been shown me by Prof. A. F. Chamberlain, now of Clark Univer- 

 sity, Worcester, Massachusetts, but formerly of Toronto, Canada. 



To the Director of the Bureau, Maj. J. W. Powell, I am under lasting obligations 

 for his constant aid and advice and for the opportunity of pursuing my work under 

 the most advantageous circumstances. 



As was the case in the previous numbers of the series, my constant assistant haa 

 Tjeen Mr. P. C. Warman, and upon him has fallen much of the detail and minutiae in- 

 separable from such a work. 



Washington, D. C, June 1, 1891. 



