The printer's device of William Caxton, 1478.

Facsimile of page 1 of Godefrey of Boloyne, printed by Caxton, London, 1481.

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The Prologue, at top of page, begins: Here begynneth the boke Intituled Eracles, and also Godefrey of Boloyne, the whiche speketh of the Conquest of the holy lande of Jherusalem. The blank space on this page was for the insertion by hand of an illuminated initial T.

William Caxton (c. 1415~1422 – c. March 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He was the first English person to work as a printer and the first person to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of books (his London contemporaries were all Dutch, German or French). Caxton may refer to: William Caxton, English printer Caxton Associates, investment firm Caxton, Cambridgeshire, English village Caxton and CTP Publishers and Printers Limited Caxton college, Spanish school Caxton Street, Brisbane Caxton Press, English printing business 1930–2002 Caxton Gibbet Category: ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 505 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (605 × 718 pixel, file size: 18 KB, MIME type: image/png) The printers device of William Caxton. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 505 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (605 × 718 pixel, file size: 18 KB, MIME type: image/png) The printers device of William Caxton. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 386 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (530 × 822 pixel, file size: 26 KB, MIME type: image/png) Godefrey of Boloyne - Facsimile page 1 - Project Gutenberg eText 12369 CAXTON. Reduced facsimile of the first page of the only copy extant of... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 386 × 599 pixel Image in higher resolution (530 × 822 pixel, file size: 26 KB, MIME type: image/png) Godefrey of Boloyne - Facsimile page 1 - Project Gutenberg eText 12369 CAXTON. Reduced facsimile of the first page of the only copy extant of... Events Friedrich I Hohenzollern (b. ... Events January 10 - Battle of Nemecky Brod during the Hussite Wars. ... Not to be confused with 1492: Conquest of Paradise. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is God Save the Queen. See also Proposed English National Anthems. ... The word printer is used to describe a company that provides commercial printing services, involving typesetting, printing and book-binding. ... The printing press is a mechanical device for printing many copies of a text on rectangular sheets of paper. ...

Biography

Caxton's date of birth is unknown, but records place it in the range 1415 to 1424. He was born in Kent and went to London, at the age of 16, as an apprentice to a mercer - a dealer in cloth.he had a small penis The Kent coat of arms For other uses, see Kent (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The original definition of a Mercer is a merchant or trader, though its current meaning is more specifically a merchant who deals in textiles. ...

In 1446, he went to Bruges, where he was successful in business and became governor of the Merchant Adventurers. His trade brought him into contact with Burgundy and it was thus that he became a member of the household of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of the English King. This led to more continental travel, including travel to Cologne, in the course of which he observed the new printing industry, and was significantly influenced by German printing. He wasted no time in setting up a printing press in Bruges in collaboration with a Fleming, Colard Mansion, on which the first book to be printed in English was produced in 1475: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation by Caxton himself. Bringing the knowledge back to his native land, he set up a press at Westminster in 1476 and the first book known to have been printed there was Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (Sayings of the Philosophers, first printed on November 18, 1477), written by none other than Earl Rivers, the king's brother-in-law. Caxton's translation of the Golden Legend, published in 1483, and The Book of the Knight in the Tower, published 1484, contain perhaps the earliest verses of the Bible to be printed in English, rather than copied. Events Mehmed II Sultan of the Ottoman Empire is forced to abdicate in favor of his father Murad II by the Janissaries. ... Geography Country Belgium Community Flemish Community Region Flemish Region Province West Flanders Arrondissement Bruges Coordinates , , Area 138. ... The Company of Merchant Adventurers of London brought together Londons leading overseas merchants in a regulated company (in the nature of a guild). ... Coat of arms of the second Duchy of Burgundy and later of the French province of Burgundy Burgundy (French: ; German: ) is a historic region of France, inhabited in turn by Celts (Gauls), Romans (Gallo-Romans), and various Germanic peoples, most importantly the Burgundians and the Franks; the former gave their... Margaret of York (May 3, 1446 - November 23, 1503) was the sister of Edward IV of England and wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. ... , For other uses, see Cologne (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 5^{Superscript text}7<!-- Comment --><blockquote> Block quote </blockquote>{| class=class=wikitable |- ! header 1 ! header 2 ! header 3 |-{| class=wikitable |- ! header 1 ! header 2 ! header 3{| class=wikitable |- ! header 1 ! header 2 ! header 3 |- | row 1, cell 1 | row 1, cell 2 | row 1, cell 3 |- | row 2... Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye or Recueil des Histoires de Troye, is a French courtly romance written by Raoul le Fevre, chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy. ... Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ... Events March 2 - Battle of Grandson. ... is the 322nd day of the year (323rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events January 5 - Battle of Nancy - Charles the Bold of Burgundy is again defeated, and this time is killed. ... Anthony Rivers, 2nd Earl Rivers (1442?- June 25, 1483) was an English nobleman, courtier, and writer. ... The story of St George and the dragon is one of many stories of the saints preserved in the Golden Legend. ... The demon of Vanity and the coquette. ... Year 1484 was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar). ...

Caxton produced chivalric romances, classical-authored works and English and Roman histories. These books strongly appealed to English upper classes around the end of the fifteenth century. Caxton was supported by, but not dependent on, nobility and gentry.

The most important works printed by Caxton were Le Morte d'Arthur and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. He produced two editions of the latter. The Last Sleep of Arthur by Edward Burne-Jones Le Morte dArthur (spelt Le Morte Darthur in the first printing and also in some modern editions, Middle French for la mort dArthur, the death of Arthur) is Sir Thomas Malorys compilation of some French and English Arthurian... Geoffrey Chaucer (c. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ...

Caxton's precise date of death is uncertain, but estimates from the records of his burial in St Margaret's, Westminster, show that he died in about March 1492.

Caxton was not without his detractors. There was widespread unease amongst the Merchant Class of the time, who felt that if the printed page were to become widely available to the population, then it might filter through to the poor. The poor, it was believed, might then "become aware and enlightened of their circumstances" and, ultimately, dissatisfied and aggrieved. This, it was felt, might lead to unrest and civil disturbance.

In challenging the wisdom of his critics, Caxton announced: "If tis wrong I do, then tis a fine and noble wrong".

Caxton and the English language

Caxton printed four-fifths of his works in English. He translated a large amount of works into English. He translated and edited a large amount of the work himself.

However, the English language was changing rapidly in Caxton's time and the works he was given to print were in a variety of styles and dialects. Caxton was a technician rather than a writer and he often faced dilemmas concerning language standardisation in the books he printed. (He actually wrote about this subject in at least one of his books.) His successor Wynkyn de Worde faced similar problems. Wynkyn de Worde, born in Alsace, was the successor to William Caxton in his English printing business, taking over and running Caxtons press after his death. ...

Caxton is credited with standardising the English language (that is, homogenising regional dialects) through printing. This was said to have led to the expansion of English vocabulary, the development of accidence and syntax and the ever-widening gap between the spoken and the written word.

However, Richard Pynson, who started printing in London in 1491 or 1492 and who favoured Chancery Standard, was a more accomplished stylist and consequently pushed the English language further toward standardisation. Richard Pynson, one of the first printers of English books, was born in 1448 in Normandy and may have been a glover [1](Plomer, 1922/23, pp. ... Chancery Standard was a written form of English used by government bureaucracy and for other official purposes from the late 14th century to /date required/. It is believed to have contributed in a significant way to the development of the English language spoken today. ...

Sources

• N. F. Blake, ‘Caxton, William (1415~24–1492)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 1 July 2006

The Dictionary of National Biography (or DNB) is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history. ...

References

• The English Charlemagne Romances, Parts III and IV, The Lyf of the Noble and Crysten Prynce Charles the Grete, Translated from the French By William Caxton And Printed By Him 1485.
• The Introduction of Printing into England and the Early Work of the Press: The First Book printed in English (1907), from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, Vol II
• Caxton’s Views on the English Language.
• Caxton's Canterbury Tales: The British Library Copies Images and full transcripts of the whole of Caxton's two editions of Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; a fuller version of this is published on CD-ROM by Scholarly Digital Editions
• Game and Playe of the Chesse A Verbatim Reprint of the First Edition, 1474

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. ...

Further reading

• Lienhard, John H. (2006): How Invention Begins: Echoes of Old Voices in the Rise of New Machines. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-530599-X pp.165-168

External links

• Works by William Caxton at Project Gutenberg
• Images from Myrrour of the Worlde from the State Library of Victoria

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

William Caxton