Bedford was born at Paddington, London, on 18 June 1799; his father is believed to have been a courier attached to the establishment of George III.
In 1841 Bedford, who had by then left Mrs. Lewis's establishment, entered into partnership with John Clarke of 61 Frith Street, Soho, who had a reputation for binding books in tree-marbled calf.
[1] In 1851 Bedford went to the Cape of Good Hope for the benefit of his health, where he remained for a time, the expenses of his journey being defrayed by the Duke of Portland, and on his return to England he established himself in Blue Anchor Yard, York Street, Westminster.
Many of his productions were imitations of the major French bookbinders of past centuries, for example the bindings of Samuel Rogers's Poems and Italy, of which he bound several copies in Morocco inlaid with coloured leathers and covered with gold tooling in the style of Antoine Michel Padeloup [fr].
[1] Bedford himself considered that an edition of Dante, which he bound in brown Morocco and tooled with a Grolier pattern, was his chef d'oeuvre, and wished it placed in his coffin; but his request was not complied with, and it was sold.