A Calendar To the Feet of Fines For London and Middlesex: Volume 1, Richard I - Richard III. Originally published by Hardy & Page, London, 1892.
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'Prefatory note', in A Calendar To the Feet of Fines For London and Middlesex: Volume 1, Richard I - Richard III, (London, 1892) pp. . British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/feet-of-fines-london-middx/vol1/note [accessed 20 April 2024]
PREFATORY NOTE.
The form of this Calendar has been adopted in consequence of the personal observation of the compilers that— no matter how full may be the description of a document— the searcher is not satisfied unless he sees either the original or an actual copy of it: for this reason, the labour of so-called exhaustive calendaring is generally in vain. What is aimed at in these pages is to give such a Calendar as will lead the searcher to the information he requires.
The terms used to denote the parties, or groups of parties, to the Fine, such as petens deforciens, etc., have been omitted, and the person or persons conveying are separated from the person or persons receiving by the word "and " in italics.
Those who desire information as to the nature and use of Fines will find a full description of these documents in Mr. Scargill-Bird's "Guide to the Principal Classes of Documents preserved in the Public Record Office," pp. 118, 119.
The best thanks of the compilers of this Calendar are due both to Mr. Scargill-Bird and to Mr. G. H. Overend for their ever ready assistance in deciphering faded or obscure words in the documents here calendared. The compilers have much pleasure in acknowledging the care displayed by their printers, Messrs. Gibbs & Bamforth, of St. Albans, which has so much lightened the labour of passing these sheets through the press.