barbour's next great lasting contribution to the literature on colonial america was the posthumous publication of his collected works of john smith. barbour's work comprehensively replaced the previous compendium compiled in the 1880s by edward arber and re-published in 1910, which is now widely considered to be incomplete. barbour's work was widely praised for its "scrupulous editing and annotations and the clear identifications of appropriation, dubious authorship and redundancy". the book was considered to have "few rivals among the published writings of southern colonists", was described as being "a major achievement" and a “vast improvement over its predecessors".