William Caxton (c. 1422-1491), the first English printer. Caxton learned the art of printing in Cologne, Germany, in 1471 and set up a press in Belgiu

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William Caxton (c. 1422-1491), the first English printer. Caxton learned the art of printing in Cologne, Germany, in 1471 and set up a press in Belgium, where he produced the first book printed in English - his own version of a French romance, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474). Returning to England in 1476, he set up a wooden printing press in London, where he produced the first book printed in England, Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (1477). He went on to print about 100 books, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and revised and translated many himself. He died in London. Engraving after a woodcut first published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1752.

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