Caxton, William (1422?-1492), was the first person to print a book in the English language and to print a book in England. The first book in the language was The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troy, Caxton’s translation of a popular French adventure tale. Caxton printed this book in Bruges, in what is now Belgium, in about 1473. The first book printed in England was The Dictes or Sayings of the Philosophers, produced in 1477. Other important works from his press in England include the first editions of Le Morte Darthur by Thomas Malory and The Canterbury Tales by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
Caxton also translated many other French works, as well as Latin and Dutch literature. His translations helped to establish the literary form of the English language as Middle English slowly developed into Modern English.
Caxton was born in Kent, England. From 1441 to 1471, he worked as a merchant in Bruges. In 1471, he went to Cologne, in what is now Germany, to learn printing. In 1476, he set up a press in Westminster, London.
