The life of William Blades was an uneventful one so far as the production of incidents that make a memoir interesting, but it was none the less a full life and one that may with advantage be taken as an example. In passing judgment upon his literary work it is necessary to bear in mind that he was a hard-worked business man, and that the work which has made his name renowned was undertaken in his hours of relaxation. Another remarkable feature of his literary work is to be found in its complete unity. Mr. Blades only dealt with those subjects respecting which he had a perfect and practical knowledge. He was born at Clapham on December 5th, 1824, and after a comparatively short attendance at the Clapham Grammar School he, at the age of sixteen, entered the office of his father, Joseph Blades, a well-known printer of Abchurch Lane. Although he thus early learnt the trade of printing, he did not commence to teach others through the press until he had reached the age of thirty-four. In 1858 he contributed some introductory remarks and notes to a reprint of Caxton’s edition of _The Governayle of Helthe_, which was printed in imitation Caxton’s type. At this time he was in the midst of his researches on the life and labours of Caxton, which were soon to result in the production of his monumental work _The Life and Typography of William Caxton_, the first volume of which appeared in 1861 and the second in 1863. This work exhibits an early instance of the new scientific method in literary research, and it marks an epoch in English bibliography. It is sufficiently strange that it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that an accurate record of the life and press of England’s first printer was produced. In taking credit to the country for Blades’s laborious work it should not be forgotten that no bibliographer has yet arisen to follow his brilliant example. Will no one arise with the necessary technical knowledge and a painstaking devotion to his subject to do for Wynkyn de Worde and for Pynson what Blades did for Caxton?

The value of the work of Ames and Herbert need not be minimised, but too much has been discovered since their time to allow us to remain content with the researches of a former generation. It is to be hoped that the discredit of lacking a full and accurate account of the whole of our early printed literature will not continue much longer. Blades has set us a bright example, and his successor cannot do better than follow in his steps. Blades was ever active, and he has left a large number of fugitive pieces, a selection from which is now presented to the public in this volume. His contributions to our knowledge of bibliography range themselves under the following headings: I. Caxton; II. Invention of Printing; III. Types; IV. Miscellaneous, such as Signatures, Books in Chains, Numismata Typographica, etc. A few remarks may be made here upon his works on these several subjects.