[1] Ames was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1736 and was appointed secretary five years later; he held the position until his death, the Rev.

[1] After dining with his old friend Sir Peter Thompson, Ames was seized with an attack that brought about his death that evening, 7 October 1759, in the seventy-first year of his life.

Francis Grose said that the history of printing published under his name actually was written by John Ward of Gresham College, though the materials probably were collected by Ames.

[3] The lot, which included plates, blocks, and copyright, was purchased by Sir Peter Thompson and afterwards was sold by him to William Herbert, who made use of it for his own edition of the book (1785–1790).

He also made the acquaintance, while attending lectures by John Theophilus Desaguliers, of Peter Thompson, a Hamburg merchant and Member of Parliament for St Albans.

Notes sent to Ames[4] include lists of printers and facsimiles of their marks, copies of title-pages, extracts, &c.[1] Samuel Palmer published a similar work; it appeared in 1732,[5] but not to acclaim.

In 1739–40 Ames circulated a preliminary list of English printers from 1471 to 1600, which included 215 names, most of them being those of London men, with the announcement: 'As the history and progress of printing in England, from 1474 to 1600, is in good forwardness for the press; if any gentleman please to send the publisher, Jos.

It formed the first attempt at a general description of English engraved portraits, a work resumed by James Granger twenty years later.

[1] Ames earned the gratitude of subsequent bibliographers by disregarding printed lists and consulting the title pages of the books themselves.