William Caxton
Categories: Medieval literature | 1422 births | 1491 deaths | English printers
William Caxton (c. 1422 - c. 1491) was the first English printer. He was born in Kent, and came to London as apprentice to a mercer, a dealer in cloth.
In 1446, he departed for 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, in the course of which he observed the new printing industry. 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. The most important works printed by Caxton were Le Morte d'Arthur and Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Caxton and the English language
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 often faced dilemmas of how much to standardise the language 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. However Richard Pynson, who started printing in London in 1491 or 1492, was a more accomplished stylist; he also favoured Chancery Standard, the language of London government. Pynson therefore helped to nudge the printed language towards standardisation.
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.