writing a biography from scratch

WADING THROUGH RIVERS
The ‘diary’ of the biography of Earl Rivers, 1442-1483

July 2006.
Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, has come to my attention through reading extensively of Richard III, his brothers Edward IV and George duke of Clarence, together with their cousin, the Earl of Warwick. After looking further into Earl Rivers’ life, I decided to write about this charismatic intellectual man. Apart from everything else he did in his relatively short life, he wrote the first book to be printed in England which is surely a huge claim to fame.

I have:
Downloaded masses of material from the Internet on him, his father and his sister Elizabeth.
Requested copies of material from really old books held in libraries
Applied for a copy of a print of his presenting a book to Edward IV
Requested details of his coat of arms from the College of Arms
Applied for a translation of his Latin motto
Searched for the print I know exists of him
Searched for the location of his grave
Written a preliminary article on him for two Internet websites
Bought a facsimile copy of the first book he wrote and a more ‘modern’ version of his second book.

All sheets are in plastic sleeves, so nothing gets torn with constantly turning over the pages, stored in a large lever ring folder. I await answers to many emails and queries, in the hope all will come in to help with the research.

It seems a good start…