don, 1778, 8vo, pp. 203; 2nd edit., revised throughout and greatly enlarged, London, 1780, 8vo; 11th edit., Kendal, 1821, 8vo. He also wrote an ‘Account of Antiquities discovered in Lancaster, 1776,’ which appeared in ‘Archæologia’ (1779, v. 98), and a description ‘Of a Volcanic Hill near Inverness,’ printed in 1777 in ‘Philosophical Transactions.’
[Antiquities of Furness, ed. Close, 1805, p. 409; Catholic Miscellany, ix. 42; Stothert's Catholic Missions in Scotland, p. 625; Gibson's Lydiate Hall, p. 45; Oliver's Jesuit Collections, p. 39; Foley's Records, v. 357, vii. 192; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; De Backer's Bibl. des Écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus.]
WEST, WILLIAM (fl. 1568–1594), author of ‘Symbolæographia,’ was the son of Thomas West of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, by his wife Anne, daughter of William Bradbury of the Peak. He was admitted a student of the Inner Temple in November 1568, being then described as of Darley, Derbyshire. He made a fortune by practice in law, and settled at Rotherham in Yorkshire. In 1590 he published ‘Symbolæographia, which may be termed the Art, Description, or Image of Instruments, Covenants, Contracts, &c., or the Notarie or Scriuener’ (London, 8vo). This work, which was dedicated to Sir Edmund Anderson [q. v.], was a general practical treatise on English law under its several divisions, and was held in great esteem at the time. The demand for it was so great that West immediately began to prepare a second edition, practically rewriting the whole book. He divided his treatise into two parts, and divested it of many superfluous classical quotations with which he had encumbered the first edition, thus rendering it more suitable for practical lawyers. The first part of the new edition (which dealt chiefly with covenants, contracts, and wills) appeared in 1592 (London, 4to). It was reissued in 1610, 1618, 1622, and 1632. The second part, with a new treatise on equity appended, appeared in 1594. It was dedicated to Edward Coke. New editions were issued in 1611, 1618, and 1627. The date of West's death is unknown, and some of the later editions may have been edited by his sons. He was twice married: first, to Winifred, daughter of Adam Eyre of Offerton; and, secondly, to Audrey Mann. By his first wife he had two daughters and five sons, of whom William, the eldest, was a student of the Inner Temple.
West also edited ‘Les tenures du monsieur Littleton’ (London, 1581, 8vo) in Norman French.
[Glover's Visitation of Yorkshire, ed. Foster, p. 359; Students admitted to the Inner Temple, 1547–1660, pp. 65, 128; Marvin's Legal Bibliogr.; Guest's Historic Notices of Rotherham, 1879, pp. 374–89.]
WEST, WILLIAM (1770–1854), bookseller and antiquary, was born on 23 Oct. 1770 at Whaddon in the parish of Croydon, Surrey. Being tired of agricultural pursuits, in December 1784, when just fourteen, he set out on foot for London in company with an elder brother. He was apprenticed to Robert Colley, liveryman of the Company of Stationers, and was turned over by him to Thomas Evans (1739–1803) [q. v.] , the Paternoster bookseller who beat Goldsmith; a brother of West had been articled to Evans since 1778. Before he was out of his time West married and had three children. At the age of eighteen he became manager to Evans, upon whose retirement the business was carried on by Evans the younger, with the assistance of West. Young Evans was imprudent and had to leave the country, and West went into business himself. In 1808 he was living in Cork, and published a guide to that city. Here he remained until 1830, when he printed his ‘Recollections.’ He then went to Birmingham, and devoted himself with much industry to the compilation of topographical works. Towards the end of his life he resided in London, and obtained employment as a bookseller's assistant or in literary work. His last years were passed in the Charterhouse, where he died on 17 Nov. 1854.
West came of a long-lived race and had a large family. One daughter married Frederick Calvert, who made the drawings for one of his books. His son Samuel was a portrait-painter. A lithographed portrait of West, at the age of sixty, by his son, is prefixed to the ‘Recollections.’
He wrote: 1. ‘Tavern Anecdotes and Reminiscences of the origin of Signs, Clubs, Coffee Houses, Streets, City Companies, Wards, &c., by one of the Old School,’ London [1825], sm. 8vo (anonymous). 2. ‘Fifty Years' Recollections of an Old Bookseller, consisting of Anecdotes, Characteristic Sketches, and Original Traits and Eccentricities of Authors, Artists, Actors, Books, Booksellers, and of the Periodical Press for the last half-century, and an unlimited Retrospect, including some circumstances relative to the Letters of Junius,’ Cork, 1830, 8vo (portraits and plates); 2nd edit. 1st ser., to which is added some additional sketches of the late Captain Grose, London, 1837, 8vo (the autobiographical portion is alone of any value). 3. ‘The History, Topography, and
