4¾ × 2½ in., 24mo, pp. (256) letterpress, Roman and italic letter. With headlines, no numbers to pages. Sign. A12, B6, ❡6, A–G12, H6, I12, K2. Shorthand characters inserted in MS. S.T.C. 3743.

Leaf 12 Title, 1b blank, 2a–62 Dedication to Queen Elizabeth, 6b blank, 7a–8b Instruction to the reader, 9a–18b The arte of characterie, 19a–24a The characterie table, 24b blank, 25a–114b A table of English wordes, 115a–128b Appelative words. A folding sheet entitled “A generall view of the Art of Charactery” is found in some copies between leaves 8 and 9. The Pepysian copy does not contain this folding sheet.

Other copies are located as under:

(1) C.L.W. This copy is in the original vellum binding and contains the “generall view”. It bears the autographs of James Bindley, 1812, and of Benjamin Hanbury. At the sale of Bindley's library on 10 December 1818 it was purchased by Hanbury for £3. 115. and was still in his possession in November 1856 (cf. Notes and Queries, 2nd ser., XLVI, 393).

(2) B.L.O. (Douce W. 3). It bears the autographs of Peter Osborne, James Wilkinson and William Herbert, and the bookplate of Francis Douce. It lacks the “generall view”. This copy is described by Herbert in his edition of Ames's “Typographical Antiquities”, II, 1226–7 and note. It was bequeathed to the Bodleian with Douce's library in 1834.