mead was a collector of paintings, rare books, classical sculpture, gems and zoological specimens, which he made available for study at the library in his bloomsbury house. his collection consisted of 10,000 volumes. in 1752 he received a letter from camillo paderni, concerning the progress at the excavations of the villa of the papyri. after his death, it took 56 days to auction them to book collectors from england and abroad. his "genuine and entire collection of valuable gems, bronzes, marble and other busts and antiquities" was auctioned by abraham langford at his house in the great piazza, covent garden on 11-15 march 1755.