Ralph Willett, the collector of the famous Merly Library, was born in 1719. He was the elder son of Henry Willett, of the island of St. Christopher in the West Indies. In 1736 he matriculated at the University of Oxford from Oriel College, but did not take a degree; and in 1739 he was admitted a student at Lincoln's Inn. Willett early developed a taste for books and pictures, and his inheritance of the family estates in the West Indies, on the death of his father in 1740, enabled him to form splendid collections of them. In 1751 he purchased a property at Merly, near Wimborne, Dorsetshire, where in 1752 he built a noble mansion, which later he enlarged by adding two wings, in one of which he constructed a handsome room for a library, which he ornamented with frescoes and arabesque designs. A description of this library, written by Willett in English and French, was printed in 1776 in octavo, and reprinted in 1785 by John Nichols in a large folio volume, with twenty-five illustrations of the designs. His London house was in Dean Street, Soho. Willett was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1763, and contributed two papers on The Origin of Printing to the ArchÆologia, which were reprinted at Newcastle in 1818-20; and a third on British Naval Architecture. In 1764 he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He died on the 13th of January 1795. Willett, who was twice married, but left no issue, bequeathed his property to his cousin John Willett Adye, who took the name of Willett, and was M.P. for New Romney from 1796 to 1806. This gentleman, shortly before his death, which occurred on 26th of September 1815, parted with the collections which had been left to him. The pictures were sold by Peter Coxe and Co. on May 31st, 1813, and two following days, and the books by Leigh and Sotheby on December 6th, and sixteen following days. The same auctioneers also sold the botanical drawings, of which there was a large number, on the 20th and 21st of December; and the books of prints on the 20th of February in the succeeding year. The books were disposed of in two thousand seven hundred and twenty lots, and realised thirteen thousand five hundred and eight pounds, four shillings. The sale catalogue states that the library consisted of 'a most rare assemblage of the early printers, fine specimens of block-printing, old English chronicles, etc., in the finest preservation, likewise an extensive and magnificent collection of books in every department of literature, from the earliest period to the present time. All the books are in the finest condition, many printed on vellum and on large paper, and bound in morocco and russia leathers. Likewise a most splendid missal; and a very choice selection of botanical drawings, by Van Huysum, Taylor, Brown, Lee, etc.'

The block-books in the collection comprised a Biblia Pauperum, which realised two hundred and fifty-seven pounds, five shillings; the first and another edition of the Speculum HumanÆ Salvationis, which sold for three hundred and fifteen pounds and two hundred and fifty-two pounds; and the Apocalypse of St. John, which fetched forty-two pounds. There were seven Caxtons—the first edition of the Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers, Tully of Old Age, the Polychronicon, the second edition of the Game of the Chesse, the Confessio Amantis, the second edition of the Mirrour of the World, and Diverse Ghostly Matters. These realised altogether one thousand three hundred and eighteen pounds, sixteen shillings; the Dictes and the Confessio Amantis fetching the highest prices—three hundred and fifteen pounds, and two hundred and sixty-two pounds, ten shillings.

Some of the many other notable books in the library, and the prices obtained for them, were a copy of the Mentz Psalter of 1459 on vellum, sixty-three pounds; Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of Durandus (Mentz, 1459), one hundred and five pounds; the Catholicon of Joannes Balbus (Mentz, 1460), sixty pounds, eighteen shillings; the Constitutiones of Pope Clement V. (Mentz, 1460), sixty-six pounds, three shillings; Latin Bible (Mentz, 1462), one hundred and five pounds; the Officia of Cicero (Mentz, 1465), seventy-three pounds, ten shillings; Latin Bible on vellum (Venice, 1476), one hundred and sixty-eight pounds; Rhetorica Nova, by Laurentius de Saona (St. Albans, 1480), seventy-nine pounds, sixteen shillings; a vellum copy of the first edition of Homer (Florence, 1488), eighty-eight pounds, four shillings; a nearly complete set of De Bry's collections in seven volumes, one hundred and twenty-six pounds; and a large paper copy of Prynne's Records in three volumes, London, 1665-70, one hundred and fifty-two pounds, five shillings. The 'splendid' manuscript missal, specially mentioned in the sale catalogue, sold for one hundred and five pounds.