William Caxton (c1422-c1491)
Caxton, the first English printer, was born in the Weald, Kent but moved to London as an apprentice to a cloth dealer, which took him on travels to the continent. Here he observed the new printing industry and set up a press in Bruges on which the first book in English was printed in 1475, before setting up a press in London's Westminster where among the most famous works to be printed was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Places to visit
The British Library, London
See copies of the original Caxton-printed Canterbury Tales in the British Library, one of the world’s greatest libraries that houses some 150 million items in most known languages!
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