Harleian MS., 5910.

Caxton’s master died before he had finished his apprenticeship, so he had to find a new master, and very soon he left England and went to Bruges.  There he remained for thirty-five years.  In those days there was much trade between England and Flanders (Belgium we now call the country) in wool and cloth, and there was a little colony of English merchants in Bruges.  There Caxton steadily rose in importance until he became “Governor of the English Nation beyond the seas.”  As Governor he had great power, and ruled over his merchant adventurers as if he had been a king.

But even with all his other work, with his trading and ruling to attend to, Caxton found time to read and write, and he began to translate from the French a book of stories called the Recuyell* of the Histories of Troy.  This is a book full of the stories of Greek heroes and of the ancient town of Troy.

Collection, from the French word recueillir, to gather.

Caxton was not very well pleased with his work, however—­he “fell into despair of it,” he says—­and for two years he put it aside and wrote no more.

In 1468 Princess Margaret, the sister of King Edward IV, married the Duke of Burgundy and came to live in Flanders, for in those days Flanders was under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy.  Princess Margaret soon heard of the Englishman William Caxton who had made his home in Bruges.  She liked him and encouraged him to go on with his writing, and after a time he gave up his post of Governor of the English and entered the service of the Princess.  We do not know what post Caxton held in the household of the Princess, but it was one of honor we may feel sure.

It was at the bidding of the Princess, whose “dreadful command I durst in no wise disobey,” that Caxton finished the translation of his book of stories.  And as at this time there were no stories written in English prose (poetry only being still used for stories), the book was a great success.  The Duchess was delighted and rewarded Caxton well, and besides that so many other people wished to read it that he soon grew tired of making copies.  It was then that he decided to learn the new and wonderful art of printing, which was already known in Flanders.  So it came about that the first book ever printed in English was not printed in England, but somewhere on the continent.  It was printed some time before 1477, perhaps in 1474.

If in manuscript the book had been a success, it was now much more of one.  And we may believe that it was this success that made Caxton leave Bruges and go home to England in order to begin life anew as a printer there.

Many a time, as Governor of the English Nation over the seas, he had sent forth richly laden vessels.  But had he known it, none was so richly laden as that which now sailed homeward bearing a printing-press.