Complex sentence: Throughout his career Merlini built a substantial collection of more than 900 books and pamphlets about magic dating from 1799 to 1962 building on an extensive collection of texts relating to magic which he acquired from The Great Levante in the early 1960s.
Split into simpler sentences: Throughout his career Merlini built a substantial collection of more than 900 books and pamphlets about magic dating from 1799 to 1962. Merlini added to an extensive collection of texts relating to magic which he acquired from The Great Levante in the early 1960s.