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Important and justly famous gathing of pamphlets, tracts and curiosa. Thomas Osborne, having purchased the library of the late Edward Harney, 2nd Earl of Oxford, commission Samuel Johnson and William Oldys, who had been Lord Oxford's secretary, to catalogue the library. It has been thought that Johnson, who had found many of the items which he catalogued particularly interesting, suggested to Osborne the idea of the Harleian Miscellany. Johnson himself wrote the proposals and the introduction and may have assisted with the selection of the contents, though Oldys probably undertook most of the later editing. The introduction in the present set is in its first issue - it does not have the title "An Essay on The Origin and Importance of Small Tracts and Fugitive Pieces." With the armorial bookplates of Owen Williams.