by Gertrude Burford Rawlings
New York D.Appleton and Company 1901
he worked in the scriptorium, but it is not known that Westminster Abbey ever had ascriptorium. Others
have thought that he printed in some other part of the Abbey. His office, however, was situated in the
Almonry, in the Abbey precincts, and was called the Red Pale, but it is now impossible to identify the place
where it stood. In 1477 Caxton produced The Dictes or Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first book, so
far as is known, ever printed in England.
by the mighty of the land, and also by the Duchess of
Burgundy, and with his pen, as we1l as with his press, he
sought to supply the books and literature which the taste
of the time demanded. "The clergy wanted service-books
says Mr. Blades, "and Caxton accordingly provided them
with psalters, commemorations and directories j the
preachers wanted sermons, and were supplied with the
'Golden Legend,' and other similar books; the' prynces,
lordes, barons, knyghtes & gentilmen' were craving for'
joyous and pleysaunt historyes' of chivalry, and the press
at the' Red Pale' produced a fresh romance nearly every
year." From his arrival at Westminster about 1476 until his
death about 1491 the date is not exactly known-Caxton
was continually occupied in translating, editing, and
printing, though beyond the prologues, epilogues, and
colophons to his various publications he composed little
himself, his principal work being the addition of a book to
The long list of his printed works includes a Hora, printed about 1478, and now represented only by a
fragment, which is of great interest as being probably the earliest English-printed service-book extant. It
was found in the cover of another old book, and is now in the Bodleian Library.
Canterbury Tales; Boethius; Parvus et
Magnlls Catho, a mediaeval school-book, the
third edition of' which contains two
woodcuts, probably the earliest produced in
England; The Historye of Rrynart the Foxe,
translated from the Dutch by Caxton; A
Book of the Chesse Aforalysed, a second
edition of the Game and Play of tile Chesse,
printed by Caxton abroad; The Cronicles of
Englond; The Pylgremage of the Sowle,
believed to have been translated from the
French by Lydgate; Gower's Confessio
Amantis; The Knyght of the Toltre,
translated by Caxton from the French ; The
Goldell Legend, consisting of lives of saints
compiled by Caxton from French and Latin
texts; The Fables of Esope, etc., translated
by Caxton from the French; Chaucer's Book
of Fame; Troylus and Creside; Malory’s
Morte d’Arthur; The Book of Good Manners,
known volume of printed statutes"; Tile Govemal of Helthe, from the Latin, author and translator
unknown, the "earliest medical work printed in English"; Divers Ghostly Matters, including tracts on the
seven points of true love and everlasting wisdom, the Twelve Profits of Tribulation, and the Rule of St.
Benet; The Fzjteen Oes and other Prayers, printed by command of "our liege ladi Elizabeth . . . Quene of
Englonde, and of the . . . pryncesse Margarete," and the" prouffytable boke for manes soule and right
comfortable to the body and specyally in aduersitee and trybulacyon, whiche boke is called The
Chastysing of Goddes Chyldern."
Between seventy and eighty different books, besides indulgences and other small productions, are
attributed to Caxton's press, and the works just named will serve to give an idea of their diversity and
range. Some of the most popular were printed more than once; of the Golden Lengend, for example,
three editions are known, and of the Dictes or Sayings, the Horee, and Parvus et Magnus Catho, and
several others, two editions are known. There is also a strong probability that many of Caxton's
productions have been lost altogether, since thirty-eight of those yet extant are represented either by
single copies or by fragments.
Caxton, according to Mr. Blades, used six different founts of Gothic type, but Mr. E. Gordon Duff, in his
Early English Printing, credits him with eight founts. His books are all printed on paper, with the exception
of a copy of the Speculum Vitae Christi in the British Museum, and one of the Doctrinal of Sapyence, in
the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.
The well-known device of Caxton was not used by him till 1487. It is usually understood to stand for W.
C. 74, but its exact meaning is not known. Blades believes that it refers to the date of printing of The
Recuyell, the first product of Caxton's typographical skill.
Westminster, John Lettou, a foreigner of whom little is known,
established the first London printing-press. His workmanship
was particularly good, and he was the first in this country to
print two columns to the page. He subsequently took into
partnership William de Machlinia, and according to the
colophon of their Tenores Novelli the office of these two
printers was located in the Church of All Saints', but this piece
of information is too vague to assist in the identification of the
spot. Machlinia is afterwards found working alone in an office
near the Flete Bridge. His later books were printed in Holbom.
A well-known name is that of Wynkyn de Worde, a native of
Holland, and at one time assistant to Caxton. At Caxton's
death he became master of the Red Pale, and issued a
number of books "from Caxton's house in Westminster,"
including reprints of several of Caxton's publications. He made
use of some modified forms of Caxton's device, but he also
had a device of his own, which first appears in the Book of
Courtesye printed some time before 1493.
He printed, among other works, the Golden Legend, the Book
is the first English book with printed musical notes; Bartholomreus De Proprietatibus Rerum, which
appeared about 1495 and is the first book printed on English-made paper, and which has already been
noticed as the authority for supposing that Caxton learned printing at Cologne; the Boke of St. Albans,
the Chronicles of England, Morte D'Arthur, The Canterbury Tales, etc., etc. He also issued a host of
sermons, almanacs, and other minor works.