AMES, JOSEPH (1689-1759), English author, was born at Yarmouth on Jan. 23, 1689. He wrote an account of printing in England from 1471 to 1600, Typographical Antiquities (1749) . Ames disregarded printed lists and consulted the title-pages of the books themselves. An interleaved copy of the work with many notes in the author's hand is now in the British Museum. Editions of his works were published with added information by William Herbert (1785-90), and T. F. Dibdin (1810-19). Ames's occupa tion is variously given. It is uncertain whether he was a ship chandler, a patten-maker, a plane-iron-maker, or an ironmonger; but he led a prosperous life at Wapping, and amassed valuable collections of antiquities. He died on Oct. 7, 17 59. His other works are catalogues of English printers, of the collection of coins which belonged to the earl of Pembroke, of some 2,000 English portraits, and Parentalia (1750), a memoir of the Wrens, undertaken in conjunction with Sir Christopher Wren's grandson, Stephen Wren. Part of his correspondence in bibliography is included in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes and Illustrations.