The First English Publisher: William Caxton
by
Kari Atkinson
Management of Special Collections
IST 632
Dr. Kenneth Lavender
November 30, 2010
William Caxton
THE FRIST ENGLISH PRINTER: WILLIAM CAXTON
Life Before the Printing Press
Most people know that Johan Gutenberg created the first printing press with moveable
type in the first half of the fifteenth century. Before that the only printing done was either by
hand or by carving entire pages from woodblocks, then stamping the pages onto leather,
vellum, or another suitable material.1 This is a technique that has been in use in China and
Japan since at least 770 C.E., 2 and possibly as early as the fifth century C.E. What many do
not know is that England was, by European standards, a late comer to the art of printing.
Nearly seventy towns in Europe had operational printing presses before England saw its first.
It was not until 1476 that William Caxton, a cloth merchant, first introduced the printing press
to England.3 Who was William Caxton? Why did a merchant and member of the powerful
Mercers' company go into printing late in his life? What effect, if any, did this seemingly
logical step have on the future of English and American printing? And how did the first
printing press help form our modern English language?
1
Norman F. Blake, Caxton: England's First Publisher (New York: Harper & Row
Publishers, Inc., 1976), 1.
2
Richard Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton: The First English Editor, Printer,
Merchant, and Translator (London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1976), 84.
3
Valeria Hotchkiss and Fred C. Robinson, English in Print: From Caxton to
Shakespeare to Milton (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008), 49.
2
William Caxton
William Caxton's Life
The exact date of Caxton's birth, as well as the location, and who his parents were are
unknown. There is much debate about his birth location and date however, it is generally
accepted that Caxton was born around 1420, with dates ranging from 1411 to 1424. 1411
seems unlikely this date is based solely on a passage from Caxton, in 1471, that he was
growing "old and weak." Also if Caxton was apprenticed to Robert Large in 1438, as is
supposed, then 1411 would make him far too old thus the date would then be closer to 1416,
assuming that Caxton began his apprenticeship at the age of sixteen.4 Unfortunately, the date
of 1438 is the date that Large paid for Caxton's apprenticeship and not necessarily the date
that Caxton began.5 The other possible dates for Caxton's birth are figured in relatively the
same manner, making no date definitive and all of them debatable, hence the thirteen year
range. Unfortunately, there is also no definitive information about where Caxton was born or
raised. The general area is known Caxton himself stated that he was born in Kent in the
Weald however, this does not give us a specific town, large or small. Recently, the town of
Tenterden has become the accepted birth place of Caxton, but like the date, there is still much
debate.6 There is even less known about his parents, the only reference to date being the
statement made by Caxton, in his prologue to Charles the Great, that "I am also bounden to
pray for my father's and mother's souls, that in my youth set me to school."7 There are many
4
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 4-5.
5
Blake, Caxton and His World, 13.
6
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 1-3.
7
George D. Painter, William Caxton: A Biography (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons,
1977), 1.
3
William Caxton
references to many different Caxton's of various spellings throughout the area however, there
is no definitive proof of any relationship between William Caxton the printer and any other
William Caxton, or any other Caxton, of any spelling.8
Once Caxton takes up his apprenticeship much more is known about his life. Around
1438, William Caxton was apprenticed to Robert Large, one of the most influential and
wealthiest members of the Mercers. The Mercers Company was an extremely rich London
mercantile guild dealing mainly in textiles, especially silks, velvets, and wool.9 Caxton would
have taken up residence within Large's substantial home in London thus remaining until he
was made a freeman. Large died in 1441, leaving twenty marks to Caxton his "apprentice,"
telling us that Caxton was still in his apprenticeship at this time. Around 1444, likely the end
of his apprenticeship, he moved to Bruges, a thriving center of commerce. Certainly by 1453
he would have been a freeman, because this is the date he made his first livery payment and
only freeman were able to purchase into the Mercers' livery.10 However, there is evidence that
Caxton was a freeman earlier. On January 2, 1450, a judgment in a lawsuit, in Bruges shows
that Caxton was an independent merchant of some means. Regardless of the date, Caxton
became a fairly successful merchant as is evident in various London documents outlining his
possessions, property, and debt owed to him.11
8
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 2-5.
9
Ibid., 10-11.
10
Blake, Caxton and His World, 26-28.
11
Painter, William Caxton, 16-20.
4
William Caxton
From about 1455 ownward not much is known about Caxton's life, until 1462-63
when he became the governor of the English merchants at Bruges. There is no known
evidence that he remained an active merchant during or after this time frame.12 However, it is
not unlikely that the evidence is merely lacking and not that Caxton actually retired from the
mercantile business. During this time he began translating The Recuyell of the Histories of
Troye, thus beginning to make the move from merchant to printer and publisher. The exact
date Caxton relinquished his post as governor of the English nation at Bruges is unknown, but
by 1471 he moved to Cologne and this is generally accepted as the end of his governing
responsibilities.
Printer and Publisher
In 1469, Caxton began his translation of The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, which
was a collection of texts printed in the vernacular, or the common language of the Bruges
area, similar to late medieval manuscripts,13 finishing it two years later at the urging of
Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy. This translation became the first book printed in the English
language, possibly printed in Cologne though it is believed to have actually been printed in
Bruges around 1473. 14 Caxton remained in Cologne for about a year and a half learning how
to print. 15 There he learned how to run the press, including the inking of the formes, how to
handle the paper, how to place type on a composing stick, and how to set type within a
12
Ibid., 25-31.
13
Hotchkiss and Robinson, English in Print, 4.
14
Blake, Caxton, 20.
15
Blake, Caxton, 20.
5
William Caxton
forme, thus gaining the skills necessary to become a printer and publisher. 16 Why Caxton
decided to learn the art of printing and retire from a successful career is a matter of much
debate. Some believe that Caxton endeavored to learn how to run a printing press because the
multiple copies of The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, which he promised to others, could
not have been effectively created by hand.17 In his own words:
"And for as much as in the writing of the same my pen is worn, mine hand weary
and not steadfast, mine eye even dimmed with overmuch looking on white paper,
and my courage not so prone and ready to labour as it hath been, and that age
creepeth on me daily and feebleth all the body; and also because I have promised to
divers gentlemen and to my friends to address them as hastily as I might this said
book, therefore I have practised and learned, at my great charge and expense, to
ordain this said book in print, after the manner and form as you may here see; and it
is not written with pen and ink as other books are, to the end that every man may
have them at once."18
Others take this passage to mean that Caxton foresaw the commercial and revolutionary
promise printing offered and decided to act upon it. Or that the entire process was a labor of
love and dedication to the English language. In the case of the later, citing that he
continuously imposed French into his translations to improve upon the jumble of dialects and
that he undertook this translation knowing that there was only a small market for English
books.19 The conclusion is that he obviously did not translate The Recuyell of the Histories of
Troye for money, knowing that there was such a small market. Perhaps there is truth to this,
for Caxton does have a profound effect upon the English language, which will be discussed in
a later part of this paper. Regardless, there is no definitive answer as to why a seemingly
16
Blake, Caxton and His World, 59.
17
Painter, William Caxton, 53.
18
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 87.
19
Ibid., 91-92.
6
William Caxton
successful merchant would leave his position as governor of the English nation at Bruges and
embark upon such a precarious venture.
Around 1473, Caxton returned to Bruges to set up a printing press, recruiting Wynkyn
de Worde to work the press. 20 He also recruited calligrapher and book seller Colard Mansion,
who worked with Caxton to create a new type face. This type, which Caxton used in much of
his printing, was based on a Fleming script in the Gothic style that eventually became known
as the bâtarde or bastarda style. One of the French publications, Quatres Derrenières Choses,
published in 1476, was unique in that it contained red-inked title-lines and it was set in a new
fount, known as type 2.21 All in all, Caxton and Mansion published two books in English, four
books in French, and possibly one Latin text, before leaving Bruges.
In September 1476, Caxton is listed as paying a year’s rent in advance for premises at
Westminster Abbey, where he set up a printing press. The exact location of this press is
unknown, though it is believed to be next to the Chapel.22 In December of the same year a
Letter of Indulgence by John Sant, Abbot of Abingdon, became the first example of printing
completed in England. This was followed, in November of 1477, by the first dated book
printed in England, The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres.23 Around 1482-83, the "Red
Pale," Caxton's second shop, was opened in the area known as the Almonry of Westminster
20
Blake, Caxton and His World, 59.
21
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 97-101.
22
Ibid., 106.
23
University Of Glasgow Special Collections, "Printing In England From William
Caxton To Christopher Barker," http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/printing/#William Caxton/
(accessed November 21, 2010).
7
William Caxton
Abbey.24 It remained in operation throughout the rest of Caxton's life, and was eventually
taken over by his successor, Wynkyn de Worde.
Caxton's early printing in England has not been considered as fine as the early printing
done in other countries, namely Germany, but his printing choices were exemplary. He
printed some of the most important English literature of his day, such as Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales, Lydgate's Temple of Glass, or Malory's Morte Darthur.25 Some scholars
believe that the works he choose to print greatly impacted English literature by creating an
audience for leisurely reading and, by printing in the vernacular, expanding the English
market.26 Others believed that his contributions to English literature were not so important
and that they have been greatly exaggerated.27 Regardless, his contributions to English
printing should not be disregarded. He did operate the only English language printing press
for about fifteen years. Throughout his lifetime he published about seventy-seven original
works, twenty-three of which he was assured financial support.28 Caxton died either at the end
of 1491 or the beginning of 1492, somewhere around the age of 70. He had just finished
translating the Lives of the Father, a work later printed by his successor Wynkyn de Worde.29
English After Caxton
24
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 106.
25
Hotchkiss and Robinson, English in Print, 5.
26
Ibid., 51.
27
Blake, Caxton and His World, 216.
28
University Of Glasgow , (accessed November 21, 2010)
29
Deacon, A Biography of William Caxton, 167.
8
William Caxton
Caxton was the only English language printer during his lifetime it was not until after
his death that other printing houses appeared. It has been thought that, had Caxton not made
plans to have de Worde carry on after his death, printing and the advancement of the English
language could have been impeded by a decade or more. Regardless of whether this is true or
not it is clear that the most significant printers to succeed Caxton were those influence by him,
namely de Worde, Robert Copland, and Richard Pynson.30
While all of his influence on English printing may have been enough to guarantee
William Caxton's place in history, it is his influence on the development of the English
language that is considered his greatest contribution to England and, one could say by
extension, the United States. Caxton is said to be the preserver of the Middle English canon,
but his most important advancements were to the standardization of spelling. During his
lifetime English underwent what is referred to as the "great vowel shift." This is when the
pronunciation of the English language truly differentiated itself from the romance languages
of Europe. If spelling had followed along these same lines and changed to accommodate the
new pronunciations, English today would, most likely, be much different and possibly less
confusing.
Caxton could be to "blame" for English being "one of the most inefficient spelling
systems in the world."31 To elucidate, Caxton used the dialect of the London court, which is
the ancestor of our modern standard English, along with the spelling of the late Middle
English manuscripts many of his books were printed from. This spelling is indicative of the
30
Ibid., 170-171.
31
Hotchkiss and Robinson, English in Print, 6.
9
William Caxton
pronunciation prior to the "great vowel shift," thus preserving words like knight, with the
silent k and gh, and multiple spellings like knight and night, instead of spelling it phonetically:
nite or possibly neyet. Because Caxton standardized his spelling within his thousands of
printings and the printers that followed him used, for the most part, the same spelling, they
essentially decided, for the English speaking world, that the spelling of the English language
would be based off of late Middle English. It is important to note that Caxton may have begun
the movement towards standardized spelling, but it took many years, late into the eighteenth
century, for complete standardization to take place. Consequently, he can only partially be
credited or blamed, depending on one's opinion of English spelling.32
Conclusion
Who was William Caxton? Is it enough to say he was the first English printer or
England's first printer? His life is sort of an enigma not much is truly known about it. We
know very little, and in some cases, nothing about his family, birth, early childhood, or death,
and even during the periods of his life where there is definitive information we find gaps in
our knowledge. Much is debatable where was The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye actually
printed? Did he leave his governorship to work for Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy? Did he
ever marry, if so then to whom? Why did he take up printing late in his life? Did he intend to
learn the art of printing before he began translating The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye or
did he make the decision sometime later and who actually taught him? These are just some of
the many unanswered questions and it is possible that they will never be adequately answered.
32
Ibid., 5-7.
10
William Caxton
So what do we actually know about Caxton? We know that he was born and
apprenticed in England in the fifteenth century, which lead to a successful career as a
merchant and member of the wealthy Mercers guild. He obtained the position of governor of
the English nation at Bruges before traveling to Cologne. While in Cologne he learned how to
run a printing press and he managed to acquire on prior to departing Bruges. The how and
why is controversial but the acquisition is not. Somewhere along this line he finished
translating and published The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, making history by printing
the first book in the English. It is interesting that the first book printed in English was not
printed in England, why? While in Bruges, he recruited Wynkyn de Worde and printed
several additional books, mostly in French. After a few years both Caxton and de Worde
moved to Westminster Abby, England, and opened the first English printing press, where a
simple Letter of Indulgence became the first printed composition in England. Caxton
remained in Westminster, translating and printing multiple other items until his death around
the beginning of the 1490's.
Caxton used one dialect, that of the London court, and standardized his spelling,
meaning all of the first printed books, letters, etc. were read the same. Likely this equated to
thousands of copies preserving the late Middle English canon and spelling. Even when the
pronunciation of many English words began to change in the "great vowel shift" Caxton
continued to use the same spelling in his printing, consequently English spelling and
pronunciation fell out of sync with each other. Because of this Caxton has been "blamed" for
the retention of silent consonants within our language. Good or bad, his contribution is
undeniable. Even though he did not fully standardize English spelling, he did take a huge step
in that direction, in the process influencing the way we, even today, spell certain words.
11
William Caxton
It is within his contributions to the English language that we see what effect his
actions had on the future of English and American printing. It is not the physical act of
printing that he influenced he did not discover any revolutionary printing techniques nor did
he alter the act of printing in any significant way, if even at all. What he did was make
contributions to our language, through his printing, that are still in use today. It was not how
England and America printed but what that contributed to Caxton's place in printing history.
12
William Caxton
WORKS CITED
Blake, Norman F. Caxton and His World. London: Andre Deutsch, 1969.
-------. Caxton: England's First Publisher. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc., 1976.
Deacon, Richard. A Biography of William Caxton: The First English Editor, Printer,
Merchant, and Translator. London: Frederick Muller Limited, 1976.
Hotchkiss, Valeria and Fred C. Robinson. English in Print: From Caxton to Shakespeare to
Milton. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008.
Painter, George D. William Caxton: A Biography. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1977.
University Of Glasgow Special Collections. "Printing In England From William Caxton To
Christopher Barker." http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/printing/#William Caxton/
(accessed November 21, 2010).
13