Caxton, William (c. 1422–1491)

English printer. He 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 established himself in London, where he produced the first book printed in England, Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres (1477).

Caxton, born in Kent, was apprenticed to a London cloth dealer in 1438, and set up his own business in Bruges 1441–70; he became governor of the English merchants there, negotiating on their behalf with the dukes of Burgundy. In 1471 he went to Cologne, where he learned the art of printing, and then set up his own press in Bruges in partnership with Colard Mansion, a calligrapher. The books from Caxton's press in Westminster included editions of the poets Chaucer, John Gower, and John Lydgate (c. 1370–1449). He translated many texts from French and Latin and revised some English ones, such as Malory's Morte d'Arthur. Altogether he printed about 100 books.

A typeface is named for him.