w caxton 1490 st bonaventura speculum vite cristi the crucifying jesus with rayed nimbus without a rim stretched on a cross plac
William Caxton (c. 1415~1422 – c. March 1492) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He was the first English person to work as a printer and the first person to introduce a printing press into England. He was also the first English retailer of books (his London contemporaries were all Dutch, German or French). William Caxton was the son of Philip and Dionisia Caxton. He had a brother named Philip. Caxton's date of birth is unknown, but records place it in the region of 1415 - 1424. He was born and educated in the Weald of Kent. Oral tradition in Hadlow claims that Caxton was born there; as does Tenterden. One of the manors of Hadlow was Caustons, owned by the Caxton family. A house in Hadlow reputed to be the birthplace of William Caxton was dismantled in 1936, and incorporated into a larger house rebuilt in Forest Row, Sussex. Caxton went to London in the period 1437–1438, when he was between the ages of 14 and 17, to serve as an apprentice to Robert Large, a wealthy London mercer, or dealer in cloth, who served as Master of the Mercer's Company, and Lord Mayor of London in 1439. In 1446, he went to Bruges, where he was successful in business and became governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London. His trade brought him into contact with Burgundy and it was thus that he became a member of the household of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, the sister of the English King. This led to more continental travel, including travel to Cologne, in the course of which he observed the new printing industry, and was significantly influenced by German printing. He wasted no time in setting up a printing press in Bruges in collaboration with a Fleming, Colard Mansion, on which the first book to be printed in English was produced in 1473: Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation by Caxton himself. Bringing the knowledge back to his native land, he set up a press at Westminster in 1476 and the first book known to have been issued there was an edi
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