William Caxton introduced printing to England in 1476 by establishing the country's first printing press near Westminster Cathedral. Some of his earliest publications included Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales in 1477. Caxton helped popularize existing English works and create new markets by publishing prose romances and other texts. He played an important role as an editor and publicist, adding prefaces and epilogues to make his books more accessible to audiences. Caxton's printing efforts made important contributions to literacy and the development of the English language and book culture.

1. THE INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING IN ENGLAND (1476)
Printing with moveable type was introduced to the Western world in the 1450s by Johann Gutenberg in
Mainz, Germany. Gutenberg invented the printing press: this new print technology involved setting pages of
type from individually cast metalletter forms that were then run off on a hand press.
For the first time it was possible to rapidly and mechanically reproduce multiple copies of the same work.
This new technology announced the beginnings of a massive cultural revolution.
CAXTON BRINGS PRINTING TO ENGLAND
The advent of printing in England was due to the efforts of William Caxton.
He was apprenticed to a member of the Mercers’ Company in London and subsequently worked for much of
his adult life as an English merchant in the Low Countries, particularly in Bruges, where he became governor
of the resident English merchants.
Caxton’s commercial experience made him quick to see the potential of print.
He seems to have published the FIRST BOOK in English in Ghent, in around 1473. This was his own
translation of the Recuyell of the Histories of Troy, an account of the Trojan legend.
In around 1476 Caxton returned to England and set up the FIRST PRINTINGSHOP in the country near
Westminster Cathedral.
The size of his organisation is unclear, although he must have had a number of workmen to undertake the
various aspects of printing, including typesetting, operating the press, proofreading and binding.
The great majority of these books were written in English, although a few were in Latin. One of the first
major books he printed, in 1477, was Geoffrey Chaucer’s THE CANTERBURY TALES.
He also printed works of other major medieval English poets whose works had enjoyed manuscript
popularity. Caxton’s printed editions brought these poems to a new, contemporary audience.
He also used print to create new markets for novel and different kinds of writing. His most sustained effort of
this kind was the publication of a series of PROSE ROMANCES,essentially a new literary form in England
in the later 15th century.
In all, Caxton published more than 20 translations that he had made himself. In fact,these translations
virtually sustained his press, being the single most abundant source of material: publications such as Cicero’s
Of Old Age, Of Friendship and Of Nobility and Aesop's Fables were all the result of Caxton’s own
translation efforts.

2. CAXTON AS EDITOR AND PUBLICIST
Caxton’s direct involvement in the books he printed was not limited to publishing his own translations. He
was also an editor and publicist who adopted various methods to make the books he printed MORE
ACCESSIBLE and ATTRACTIVE to his audiences.
Many of the books he published contain his own prefaces or epilogues, explaining the contents and/or the
circumstances that led him to publish them.
CAXTON’S CULTURAL ANDHISTORICAL IMPACT
It has been estimated that Caxton published over three million words of his own writings during his career,
either in direct translation or in passages he added to books he printed.
His own prose made important contributions to the English language, including the INTRODUCTION of a
large number of new WORDS into the LEXICON (such nouns as ‘concussion’, ‘fortification’, ‘servitude’
and ‘voyager’ for example).
Caxton’s emphasis on trying to develop markets for English writings, both for older and for new kinds of
writing, is another important aspect of his historical and cultural importance.
The works he printed were a significant factor in the DEVELOPMENT of LITERACY and readership in late
medieval England.
The CanterburyTales – GeoffreyChaucer
(Dover Giant Thrift Editions)