William Caxton

Born in Kent around 1422, William Caxton worked first as a mercer and later spent many years in the Low Countries as a merchant and diplomat. During that time he became interested in the new technology of printing and began translating as well as producing books.

Caxton is widely remembered as the person who introduced the printing press to England in 1476. From his press at Westminster, he printed and published important works including The Canterbury Tales and Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur, while also translating a number of texts himself.

Because he stood at the meeting point of manuscript culture and print, Caxton had an outsized influence on early English reading and publishing. He died around 1491, but his work helped open the way for English books to reach a far larger audience than ever before.