1421?-1491

British Printer

In the late fifteenth century, as printing presses on the continent were gaining prominence, one man, William Caxton, had the foresight to bring printed works to England. Although his career began in textiles, Caxton retired from the textile business before learning the art of printing. He set up a printing business in Bruges in 1474, the same year he printed the first known book in the English language, Recuyell of the Histories of Troie, which he translated from the French. In 1476 Caxton returned to England and set up his printing and publishing business near Westminster Abbey. In the ensuing years his press introduced many of the literary masterpieces of his day, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1478) and Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1485).

Born around 1421 in Kent, England, William Caxton received schooling before entering the Mercers' Company, an influential London guild, and being apprenticed to Robert Large, a...