Caxton (kakston)

The name applied to any book printed by William Caxton (died 1491 or 1492), originally an English merchant in the Netherlands, who in advanced age learned the art of printing and introduced it into England. The Caxtons are all in black-letter. The "Recuyell of the His to ryes of Troye," translated from the French and printed by Caxton either at Bruges or Cologne, probably in 1474, Caxton is considered the earliest specimen of typography in the English language. "The Game and Playe of the Che e," printed by him in 1474-5, was the second English book printed, and "The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers," printed by him at Westminster in 1477, was probably the first work printed in England. The list of known publications printed by him from 1474 to 1490 includes seventy-one titles. Some of them were translated by himself from the French and Dutch.