William Caxton

William Caxton (c. 1422-1491)

First English printer; established a printing press in Westminster in 1476.

(1) Caxton’s biography demonstrates a link, which we have seen before, between mercantilism and intellectual growth. Caxton was a merchant and became an influential member of the trading groups in northern Europe; we may suggest that his interest in printing was influenced by his interests in trade. He learned printing at Cologne and was eager to employ the new technology in England, especially as he knew firsthand how difficult and tedious copying by hand was. In addition to being the first printer, Caxton was also the first retailer of printed books. In Caxton, the intellectual and mercantile elements of printing are blended nicely.

(2) The first book Caxton printed was the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, which he had translated himself from the French. That this is the first book printed in English points to two things: the importance of the Trojan heritage to even late medieval and early modern English, and the continuing importance of translation in the literary world of fifteenth century England. Caxton himself translated 24 books, though not particularly well, it seems.

(3) Caxton promoted the vernacular; he printed nearly all the English literature that was available to him. He printed Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and other poetry, Gower’s Confessio amantis, and much of Lydgate, for example. Printing these works helped to solidify the basis of the English canon.