William Caxton, English Printer and Merchant

William Caxton, English Printer and Merchant

William Caxton (1415 - March 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He is thought to be the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England, which he did in 1476. He was also the first English retailer of printed books (his London contemporaries in the same trade were all Flemish, German or French). Caxton printed four-fifths of his works in the English language. He translated a large number of works into English, performing much of the translation and editing work himself. He is credited with printing as many as 108 books, 87 of which were different titles. He is also credited with standardizing the English language (that is, homogenizing regional dialects) through printing. This facilitated the expansion of English vocabulary, the regularization of inflection and syntax, and a widening gap between the spoken and the written word. In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons in a BBC poll.

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Album / Science Source / New York Public Library

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3549 x 4781 px | 48.5 MB

30.0 x 40.5 cm | 11.8 x 15.9 in (300 dpi)