William Caxton was born c.1421 in Kent. After his apprenticeship in London he soon became a successful merchant. Caxton spent most of his life on the Continent in Bruges, Cologne and as a secretary of Margaret of Burgundy, a sister of Edward IV.

Caxton has become most famous as the first English printer. He established his printing press at Westminster in 1476 after he had printed his first translations in Bruges. Until his death in 1491 he printed more than a hundred books and contributed considerably to the development of an early modern English prose style although the influence of the printed word should not be over-estimated. Many of the works printed by Caxton were translated by himself. His first work was The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474) and The Game and Playe of the Chesse, both printed in Bruges. The first book printed in England was The Dictes and Sayingis of the Philosophres (1477). From c.1480 onwards Caxton began to use woodcuts as illustrations. Perhaps the best-known book published by Caxton is his version of Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur.

Apart from Caxton's enormous output of printed books and translations his own prose works, particularly his prefaces, should not be neglected.

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