The biography and typography of William Caxton, England's first printer

Om denne boken

"The biography and typography of William Caxton, England's first printer" by Blades is a historical and bibliographical study written in the late 19th century. It charts Caxton’s life and career alongside a meticulous analysis of his printed output, types, devices, and working methods, situating him within the rise of printing in England and the Low Countries. Drawing on company records, embassies, and court circles, it follows Caxton from Kentish origins through mercantile Bruges to Westminster, while also cataloguing his editions and discussing their rarity and features.

The opening of the volume sets the scope: a revised reprint that condenses earlier scholarship and adds notes on Caxton’s printer’s device and punctuation, while underscoring printing’s civilizational impact. It then outlines the plan—first a documentary life of Caxton, then detailed descriptions of his books by type, with appendices from Mercers’ and Bruges records. The narrative begins with Caxton’s birth in the Weald of Kent amid strong Flemish influence, a dialect anecdote about “eyren/eggs,” and a sober weighing of name variants to suggest a likely Causton connection. It proceeds to his 1438 apprenticeship to the wealthy mercer Robert Large, depicting London apprentice life, Large’s household and will, and vivid city scenes—dearth, pageantry, religious persecution, and civic unrest—culminating in Caxton’s departure abroad. In Bruges he emerges as a prosperous merchant, then Governor of the English Nation (Merchant Adventurers), mediating trade disputes, enforcing measures, and corresponding with London while treaties lapsed and were renewed; he begins translating the Recuyell under Duchess Margaret’s patronage and likely moves toward printing with Colard Mansion. A broad survey follows of 15th‑century bibliophilia—royal and ducal libraries in France and Burgundy, Louis de Bruges’s collection, English patrons—and of the book trades’ guild structure at Bruges and Antwerp. Finally, an initial technical chapter contrasts manuscripts and early print, explaining materials, binding habits, blank leaves, one‑page printing, signatures, hand‑painted initials, undated colophons, and typeforms that closely imitated contemporary handwriting.