[1] He was the son of Thomas West of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, by his wife Anne, daughter of William Bradbury of the Peak.
[2] In 1590 West published Symbolæographia, which may be termed the Art, Description, or Image of Instruments, Covenants, Contracts, &c., or the Notarie or Scriuener (London).
This work, which was dedicated to Sir Edmund Anderson, 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.