Person

William Caxton

c. 1422–1491 · 15th century

William Caxton was an English merchant, translator and printer who introduced printing to England. After learning the trade in Cologne and Bruges, where he printed the first book in English, he set up a press at Westminster in 1476. He printed around a hundred books, among them Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, helping to standardise written English.

William Caxton — Image: Raoul Lefèvre / William Caxton · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 profile

Kingdom of EnglandImpact

See also

Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). William Caxton. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-caxton
MLA: “William Caxton.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-caxton. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “William Caxton.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-caxton.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘William Caxton’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/william-caxton (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻