William Blades (5 December 182427 April 1890),
English
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* English people
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* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
printer
Printer may refer to:
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* Printer (publishing), a person or a company
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* Optical printer for motion picture films
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and
bibliographer
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
, was born at
Clapham, London
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history ...
.
Career
In 1840 he was apprenticed to his father's printing business in London, being subsequently taken into partnership. The firm was afterwards known as Blades, East & Blades. His interest in printing led him to make a study of the volumes produced by
William Caxton
William Caxton ( – ) was an English merchant, diplomat and writer. He is thought to be the first person to introduce a printing press into England, in 1476, and as a printer to be the first English retailer of printed books.
His parentage a ...
's press, and of the early
history of printing in England.
His ''Life and Typography of William Caxton, England's First Printer'', was published in 1861–1863, and the conclusions which he set forth were arrived at by a careful examination of
types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type
In computer science and computer programming, a data type (or simply type) is a set of possible values and a set of allo ...
in the early books, each class of type being traced from its first use to the time when, spoilt by wear, it passed out of Caxton's hands. Some 450 volumes from the Caxton Press were thus carefully compared and classified in chronological order.
In 1877 Blades took an active part in organizing the Caxton celebration, and strongly supported the foundation of the
Library Association. He was a keen collector of old books, prints and medals. His publications relate chiefly to the early history of printing. The ''
Enemies of Books'' was his most popular work, being produced in 1880. He was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1882.
On his death, his library was acquired by the
St Bride Foundation as the initial collection of the library.
''History''
(St Bride Library) The architect of the St Bride Foundation building, Robert Cunningham Murray, created a room to house the collection that was a near replica of Blade's original library.
Death
He died at Sutton in Surrey on 27 April 1890.
References
Attribution:
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blades, William
1824 births
1890 deaths
People from Clapham
English printers
English bibliographers
Historians of printing
19th-century English businesspeople