firm's first office was at 158 Fleet Street. Fleet Street had an inviting architecture and atmosphere. It was full of businesses and people, coffee houses, taverns, and soup kitchens. It appealed to "publishers, printers, authors and tradesmen who occupied its houses and frequented its taverns." And it was always bustling with "innumerable trades, tradesmen and customers, coaches, wagons playhouses".

Before founding Ward and Lock, Ward had worked as the manager of the book department at Herbert Ingram