Frederick Startridge Ellis

He entered, at the age of sixteen, the business of Edward Lumley of Chancery Lane, and afterwards became assistant to C. J. Stewart, a bookseller of King William Street, Strand, London from whom he acquired his knowledge of books.

[1] After the death of Green in 1872, Ellis took on premises at 29 New Bond Street, previously occupied by T. & W. Boone, and carried on business, mainly in old books and manuscripts; his next partner was David White, who retired in 1884.

For many years Ellis was official buyer for the British Museum, which brought him into rivalry with the rest of the trade opponents in auction rooms.

He edited many other productions for the Press, including George Cavendish's Life of Wolsey (1893); William Caxton's Golden Legend (1892), which also appeared in the "Temple Classics" (1899 and 1900).

He also wrote a metrical adaptation of Caxton's Reynard the Fox, (1894, revised 1897), edited and translated Guillaume de Lorris's and Jean de Meun's Romance of the Rose (1900, "Temple Classics"), and H. Pengelly's Memoir, with a preface (1897); and contributed memoirs to Bernard Quaritch's Dictionary of English Book Collectors.

[1] Their daughter Phyllis Marion conducted the "herculean task" of the initial transcription of the Kelmscott edition of Caxton's Golden Legend.