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001			78654
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005			20260610134826.0
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010			_a09024383
040			_aUtSlPG
041		7	_aen _2iso639-1
050		4	_aZ
100	1		_aBlades, William, _d1824-1890
245	1	4	_aThe biography and typography of William Caxton, England's first printer
250			_aSecond edition.
264		1	_aSalt Lake City, UT : _bProject Gutenberg, _c2026
300			_a1 online resource : _bmultiple file formats
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_acomputer _bc _2rdamedia
338			_aonline resource _bcr _2rdacarrier
500			_aRelease date is 2026-05-11
508			_adeaurider, Terry Jeffress, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Last Edit of Project Info
520			_a"The biography and typography of William Caxton, England's first printer" by Blades is a historical and bibliographical study written in the late 19th century. It charts Caxton’s life and career alongside a meticulous analysis of his printed output, types, devices, and working methods, situating him within the rise of printing in England and the Low Countries. Drawing on company records, embassies, and court circles, it follows Caxton from Kentish origins through mercantile Bruges to Westminster, while also cataloguing his editions and discussing their rarity and features. The opening of the volume sets the scope: a revised reprint that condenses earlier scholarship and adds notes on Caxton’s printer’s device and punctuation, while underscoring printing’s civilizational impact. It then outlines the plan—first a documentary life of Caxton, then detailed descriptions of his books by type, with appendices from Mercers’ and Bruges records. The narrative begins with Caxton’s birth in the Weald of Kent amid strong Flemish influence, a dialect anecdote about “eyren/eggs,” and a sober weighing of name variants to suggest a likely Causton connection. It proceeds to his 1438 apprenticeship to the wealthy mercer Robert Large, depicting London apprentice life, Large’s household and will, and vivid city scenes—dearth, pageantry, religious persecution, and civic unrest—culminating in Caxton’s departure abroad. In Bruges he emerges as a prosperous merchant, then Governor of the English Nation (Merchant Adventurers), mediating trade disputes, enforcing measures, and corresponding with London while treaties lapsed and were renewed; he begins translating the Recuyell under Duchess Margaret’s patronage and likely moves toward printing with Colard Mansion. A broad survey follows of 15th‑century bibliophilia—royal and ducal libraries in France and Burgundy, Louis de Bruges’s collection, English patrons—and of the book trades’ guild structure at Bruges and Antwerp. Finally, an initial technical chapter contrasts manuscripts and early print, explaining materials, binding habits, blank leaves, one‑page printing, signatures, hand‑painted initials, undated colophons, and typeforms that closely imitated contemporary handwriting. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534			_pOriginally published: _cNew York: Scribner and Welford, 1882
653			_aCaxton, William, approximately 1422-1491 or 1492
653			_aPrinting -- England -- London -- History -- Origin and antecedents
653			_aIncunabula -- England -- London -- Bibliography
653			_aPrinters -- Great Britain -- Biography
653			_aWestminster (London, England) -- Imprints
856	4		_uhttps://archive.org/details/biographytypogra00blad
856	4	0	_uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78654
999			_c119372 _d119372