scorn of all self-advertisement. His outlook on life was singularly independent; his judgments of men sometimes caustic, but more often tender; his speech kindly, picturesque, and above all shrewd and humorous. He had scarcely any intimates; one of the most trusted of his associates was Professor (Sir) Richard Owen, with whom he had much in common beyond the game of chess. All his novels, except 'Clara Vaughan' and part of 'The Maid of Sker,' were written in his plain brick house at Teddington. His day was divided between his garden and his manuscript. The morning was held sacred to the vines and pears, the afternoon and early evening to the task of composition.
He detested London, and in later life seldom went beyond his own grounds, except once a week to church. His favourite poets were Homer, Virgil, Milton, and among modern men Matthew Arnold. His skill with the lathe was quite out of the common, and he carved some ivory chessmen delicately and curiously. He was a keen judge of fruit, and often gave his friends delightful and quite unpremeditated lessons in its culture. Blackmore was a tall, square-shouldered, powerfully built, dignified-looking man, and was the picture of health with fair complexion and high colour.
[Personal knowledge and private information.]
BLADES, WILLIAM (1824–1890), printer and bibliographer, the son of Joseph Blades, was born at Clapham on 5 Dec. 1824, and was educated at the Stockwell and Clapham grammar schools. He was apprenticed on 1 May 1840 at his father's printing firm of Blades & East, 11 Abchurch Lane, London. Shortly after the expiration of his apprenticeship he was admitted a partner in the business, and soon he and his brother conducted it under the style of Blades, East, & Blades. He turned his attention to the typography of the first English press, and in 1858 undertook to write an introductory note to a reprint of Caxton's edition of the 'Governayle of Helthe.' His Caxton studies were conducted in a thoroughly scientific manner. New biographical facts were discovered in searching the archives of the city of London, and, instead of blindly adopting the conclusions of Lewis, Ames, Herbert, Dibdin, and other preceding bibliographers, he personally inspected 450 volumes from Caxton's press, preserved in various public ahd private libraries, and carefully collated, compared, and classified them. Each volume was critically examined from the point of view of a practical printer, and arranged according to its letter. The career of each class of type was traced from its first use to the time when it was worn out and passed into strange hands. This inquiry was more important in his eyes than the recording of title-pages and colophons. Every dated volume thus fell into its proper class, and the year of undated volumes was fixed by its companions. Such was the way in which the story of Caxton's press was written. The first volume of the 'Life of Caxton' appeared in 1861, and the second two years later. It was only one of many books, articles, and papers devoted by Blades to the study of England's first printing-press. A notable result of his labours was to give an increased value to the Caxton editions. His careful and systematic methods had much in common with those of Henry Bradshaw [q. v., Suppl.], with whom he carried on a friendly correspondence extending over twenty-five years (G. W. Prothero, Memoir of H. Bradshaw, 1888, pp. 73-6, 99, 201, 255, 363).
Blades took a leading part in the organisation of the Caxton celebration in 1877, was a warm supporter of the Library Association founded the same year, and read papers before several of the annual meetings of that body. His 'Enemies of Books' (1881), which was the most popular of his literary productions, was a discursive account of their foes, human, insect, and elemental. In a series of articles in the 'Printers' Register ' in 1884 he supported the claims of William Nicholson (1753-1815) [q. v.] as the English inventor of the steam press against the contention of Goebel on behalf of the German, Koenig.
He was a keen and honourable man of business, ever alive to modern improvements in the mechanical part of his calling. His writings were chiefly devoted to the early history of the art of printing, and besides the books mentioned below he contributed many articles to trade journals and bibliographical periodicals. He was an ardent collector of books, pictures, prints, medals, jettons, and tokens relating to printing. He took an active share in the municipal work of his city ward (Candlewick), was a member of the council of the Printers' Pension Fund, and a liveryman of the Scriveners' Company. He died on 27 April 1890 at his residence at Sutton, Surrey, in his sixty-sixth year, leaving a widow, to whom he was married in 1862, and seven children.
He published:
- 'The Governayle of Helthe, reprinted from Caxton's edition,' London, 1858, 8vo.
- 'Moral Prouerbes; C. du Castel,' London, 1859, 4to. (These
