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England and the Printing Press: A Subject Guide

Famous Early English Printers

The following selection of famous early English printers represented in the Rare Book collections is only a sample of what is available in the Division's holdings. Researchers may wonder why this list includes no women. Property and inheritance laws in England made it difficult for women to print under their own names. The laws in France, however, were a little different. Researchers interested in women's printing history may find this blog post useful:

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Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. [Printer's mark of William Caxton in North Corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.] 2007. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division .

William Caxton (c. 1422 - 1491) was the first printer in England, the first English printer, and the first printer to print in English.

Very little is known about Caxton's childhood and early life. He was likely born south of London in the area of Kent, and, while he certainly received a basic education, he probably did not receive extensive schooling. He was apprenticed to Robert Large (1441), a wealthy London merchant and politician. Robert Large's business traded in textile goods--wools and silks--and the majority of the business involved trade in the Low Countries.

William Caxton became very interested in Continental politics due to his connections and business involvements with Robert Large. The cloth trade was the backbone of the economy in the Low Countries, and at that time Flanders was part of the duchy of Burgundy. The courts of the Dukes of Burgundy were some of the wealthiest, most cultured places of the period, serving not only as centers for business but also centers of arts and culture. In order to conduct his business affairs, Caxton would have had to have been proficient in French and likely also spoke Dutch.

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William Caxton, printer.Image du monde 2007.[Westminster] William Caxton [1490]. Rosenwald Collection. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

After the death of Robert Large, Caxton started his own textile business. He settled in the city of Bruges, and he became governor of the city by April 1465. Receipt of this important civil position would have been a testament to Caxton's skill as a businessman and politician, as the textile trade was essential to the city's financial well-being. Despite several political arguments between the English and the Dukes of Burgundy, Caxton seems to have remained in politics in Bruges until 1470, at which time he moved to the city of Cologne to expand his business with the sale of printed books.

Caxton was in Cologne until 1472, where he was presumably acquiring a printing press and learning how to run a publishing house. During his stay, he finished his translation of what would become his first book and the first book printed in the English language: The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, which is a compilation of stories about the Trojan wars. Caxton is an important figure in the history of the English language not only because he was the first printer in England, but because he translated many French works, such as The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, into Middle English and published them for the local market in England.

Caxton printed and sold books from Bruges until 1476, when he brought the printing press to England. Settling in Westminster outside of London, he began printing works by English authors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, and Thomas Malory.

Caxton's influence on the English language, histories of reading, and the history of the book cannot be overstated. He is a particularly interesting figure for researchers studying the relationship between manuscript culture and print culture in fifteenth-century England.


The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Lefèvre, Raoul, active 1460. The recuyles or gaderige to gyder of ye hystoryes of Troye, how it was destroyed brent twyes by ye puyssaunt Hercules ye thyrde generall by ye Grekes [tr. out of Frenshe in to Englysshe by Wyllyam Caxton]. [London, Enprynted by W. de Worde, 1503]. Rosenwald Collection. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

Wynkyn de Worde (d. 1535) was England's second printer.

Unlike William Caxton, Wynkyn de Worde was not himself from England. Wynkyn de Worde was from Wörth in Alsace, and he likely met William Caxton while Caxton was acquiring his first printing press in Cologne. When Caxton returned to England in 1476, he brought Wynkyn de Worde with him to set-up shop in Westminster as the first English printing house. Wynkyn remained Caxton's principle assistant until Caxton's death in 1492.

When Caxton died, Wynkyn succeeded Caxton and his printing business, famously moving it to Fleet Street in London in 1500. Like Caxton, Wynkyn focused on English printing. He even printed a number of Caxton's translations that were reissued with more woodcut illustrations. Scholars have estimated that Wynkyn's publications contain more than 1100 woodcuts, and that images were a large part of his marketing strategy.

He was enormously successful, and by 1509 acquired another shop in St. Paul's Churchyard. While Caxton had emphasized a kind of courtly literature in his printing, Wynkyn increasingly turned to popular literature that would sell well in London. He sold a lot of grammar books, for example, and more popular religious texts. Though, like Caxton, he also printed translations and the works of contemporary poets.

Wynkyn also worked collaboratively with other printers, many of whom had been his apprentices. While Caxton is known for being a printer and translator, Wynkyn's contribution to printing history was to energize the printing culture in London. Wynkyn's move to Fleet Street was significant to the future culture of printing in London. Many printers took up residence in the same area, making it a known location for printers for centuries to come.

For a little memoir of Fleet Street, see chapter nine, "Fleet Street and the PressExternal in E. Beresford Chancellor's The Annals of Fleet Street (1912).

St. Paul's and Ludgate Hill from Fleet Street, London, England. c1906. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. [Second Floor Corridor. Printers marks Columns. Printer's mark of Richard Pynson in North Corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.]2007. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Richard Pynson (c.1449–1530) was the royal printer for King Henry VIII.

Scholars are not sure from whom Richard Pynson first learned the art and craft of printing. He may have learned it in England from William Caxton or William de Machlinia, or in France from Guillaume le Talleur in Rouen, or Jean du Preacute in Paris. Being of Norman extraction, Richard Pynson was French-speaking and well-educated, and the first historical reference to him is as a student at the University of Paris. Records show that in 1482 he was printing in London. He was also known to be a bookbinder.

The strength of Richard Pynson's printing shop was in legal printing. For researchers interested in these publications, the Rare Book Division of the Law Library of Congress has examples of Pynson's law books.

Karl von Piloty, artist. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn at Cardinal Wolsey's - from the original painting in the collection of Mr. John Wolfe, New York. Philadelphia: Barrie, [between 1880 and 1900]. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

Being well-connected in the English court of Henry VIII, and being a well-known printer of legal texts, Richard Pynson was a natural fit for the position of the King's printer. By 1512 Pynson was given the ability to print all royal statutes and proclamations on an exclusive basis. Pynson assisted with the King's political and religious agenda. In 1521 Pynson printed King Henry VIII's Assertion of the Seven Sacraments (Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum), which is a theological treatise written as a critical response to Martin Luther's assertion that the Bible only supported the validity of two sacraments.

The publication of Assertio septem sacramentorum prompted Pope Leo X to name Henry VIII as a "Fidei Defensor" (Defender of the Faith). This title was later revoked when, in 1530, Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church in England and was subsequently excommunicated by Pope Paul IIII. However, the title remained associated with the English monarchs, because Parliament later conferred it upon Henry VIII and his successors as part of affirming the role of the English monarch as being the head of the Church of England.

Cuthbert Tunstall, 1474-1559. De arte supputandi libri quattuor. [Londini, Impress, in aedibus R. Pynsoni, 1522]. Rosenwald Collection. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

Richard Pynson did more than print legal and politically motivated publications, however. The image on the right is from the first edition of Cuthbert Tunstall's De arte supputandi libri quatuor, the first work on arithmetic to be printed in England. Being the court printer, Pynson had strong court connections, and the engravings in this publication are thought to have been designed by the famous artist, Hans Holbein (1497-1543), who was a favorite of Henry VIII.

This first edition of Cuthbert Tunstall's De arte supputandi libri quatuor is a testament to the power of the printing press to connect European intellectuals and artists and to spread their ideas. Tunstall's work is based on an earlier publication of Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli's work, Summa de arithmetica that was printed in Venice in 1494. It is also a testament to Pynson's printing. Unlike William Caxton and Wynkyn de Worde, whose type design is based on a manuscript hand popular in the Burgundian courts, Pynson uses a Roman typeface that is easier to read and is associated with a more classically influenced, humanist, and Italian aesthetic.


The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Sir Thomas Elyot, 1490?-1546. The castel of helth / corrected and in some places augmented by the fyrste authour therof, Sir Thomas Elyot, knyght, the yere of oure lord 1541. Londini : In aedibus Thomae Bertheleti typis impress. ..., [1541]. Katherine Golden Bitting Collection on Gastronomy. Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

Thomas Berthelet (d. 1555) was a humanist printer who worked in Tudor England.

Likely a native of France, Thomas Berthelet's early life is not well documented. Whatever the events of his early life, he grew into a successful printer, and ran a printing shop on Fleet Street in London. Like Pynson, he printed enough legal texts to gain a reputation for it, and, like Pynson, eventually became King's printer under Henry VIII.

By 1530 Berthelet was printing the King's proclamations and statutes as well as performing other services such as bookbinding. Berthelet held this position until Henry VIII's death in 1547, at which point Berthelet did not choose to renew his patent. The Rare Book Division in the Law Library of Congress has several of Berthelet's legal publications, including printed acts of parliament and a printed copy of the Magna Carta among many others.

Thomas Berthelet did not only print legal material, however. He is famous for printing the first English edition of Desiderius Erasmus's The Praise of Folly in 1549 as well as other works by the famous Dutch humanist. Berthelet also printed chronicles by the English chronicler Thomas Lanquet, a history of Italy by Thomas William, Xenophon's Treatise on the Household, and several works by Sir Thomas Elyot.

Sir Thomas Elyot, 1490?-1546. The castel of helth / corrected and in some places augmented by the fyrste authour therof, Sir Thomas Elyot, knyght, the yere of oure lord 1541. Londini : In aedibus Thomae Bertheleti typis impress. ..., [1541]. Katherine Golden Bitting Collection on Gastronomy. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

One such work is Elyot's The Castle of Health, which was the first widely read work of medicine written in the English language. Sir Thomas Elyot was a humanist, a diplomat in the court of Henry VIII, and a close friend of Sir Thomas More. He was well-read, well-educated, and perhaps best remembered for writing in English prose on subjects that were often treated in Latin.

The Castle of Health was written for laymen rather than physicians and was intended to be a basic regimen on healthy living. It was intended to reach audiences beyond just those who could read Latin well. Elyot takes a broad view of health that includes more than just physical health, and he advocates for healthy habit forming and the use of reason. The implication is that the excesses of courtly life are perhaps not the best habits for a healthy person or for a healthy society.


The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

Carol M. Highsmith, photographer. [Second Floor Corridor. Printers' marks+Columns. Printer's mark of John Day in North Corridor. Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington, D.C.]. 2007. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.

John Day (c. 1521–1584) was prominent printer under Queen Elizabeth I.

A successful London printer, John Day developed a specialty in printing materials related to the Protestant cause. He worked mostly within a network of other sympathetic printers, most particularly William Seres (d. 1579?) with whom he printed the so-called Matthew's Bible in 1547.

John Day is known for printing what became the standard Protestant psalter: The Whole Booke of Psalms. Written primarily by English courtier Thomas Sternhold (1500-1549) and augmented by John Hopkins (1570), the influence of this metrical psalm book cannot be overstated. A simple ballad meter was used for the psalm book, making the translation accessible and easy to remember.

The Sternhold Hopkins metrical psalter was often bound with the Geneva Bible for ease of use. Several copies of the Sternhold Hopkins psalter are housed in the Music Division in the Performing Arts Reading Room at the Library of Congress. This Division has Reference Librarians who specialize in musicology and the history of the performing arts, and researchers who are interested in the musical nature of Day's publication rather than the printing should contact the Performing Arts Division via their Ask-A-Librarian.

Euclid. The elements of geometrie of the most auncient philosopher Evclide of Megara. Imprinted at London: By Iohn Daye, 1570. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

John Day was a prolific publisher, and he printed many texts written by prominent Protestant figures. Some examples include: John Calvin, John Bale, John Hooper, Thomas Becon, Edward Dering, Hugh Latimer, William Tyndale. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

John Day's printing also assisted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker (1504-1575), creator of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge England, with a nationalistic project. The Archbishop was interested in crafting the Church of England as a national Church that retained its identity as neither Roman Catholic nor continental Protestant.

In an effort to claim English Christianity as historically preserved through the Church of England, the Archbishop, an avid book collector, rescued Anglo-Saxon manuscripts and other English texts from the monastic libraries that were being destroyed under the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In the spirit of preserving and furthering the English Church, the Archbishop worked with John Day to print a bible using moveable type cast into Anglo-Saxon characters. A copy of this 1571 Anglo-Saxon Bible is held in the Bible Collection in the Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

John Day did not only print religious material, however. The image above of his printer's mark is from his 1570 printing of Euclid's Elements, which is the first English translation of all fifteen books of Euclid's Elements. The translation was done by Sir Henry Billingsley (d. 1606), who was a successful English merchant and later a member of parliament. Billingsley likely enlisted the help of John Dee (1529-1609), the Anglo-Welsh mathematician who wrote a lengthy preface to the publication.

John Day's skillful printing is on display with this publication of Euclid. The construction of the geometrical figures in Book XI is engineered like a pop-up book, enabling students of geometry to produce small three-dimensional models of Euclid's propositions.

Euclid. The elements of geometrie of the most auncient philosopher Evclide of Megara. Imprinted at London: By Iohn Daye, 1570. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

William Gilbert. Guilielmi Gilberti Colcestrensis, medici londinensis, De magnete. Londini: Excudebat Petrus Short, anno 1600. Library of Congress Rare Book & Special Collections Division.

Peter Short (d. 1603) was an Elizabethan printer of music, literature, and science.

London printer Peter Short (d. 1603) is now best known for printing literary works, such as his English version of the French poet, Robert Garnier's The tragedie of Antonie that Short printed for the famous bookseller William Ponsonby in 1595.

The Rare Book and Special Collections Division has a copy of one of Peter Short's imprints that is an especially important scientific work: William Gilbert'sOn the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on the Great Magnet the Earth.

William Gilbert (1544-1603) studied at Cambridge University where he became a senior fellow and the president of the Royal College of Physicians. He had a very successful medical career, and conducted research at his home in his spare time with like-minded colleagues and friends.

Working years before Francis Bacon (1561-1626) and the Royal Society of London, Gilbert was the first scientist to study and publish on magnetic iron ore, and he was an intense advocate of scientific experimentation and observation.

In De Magnete Gilbert argued that the earth was magnetic and that it rotated on an axis. In addition to describing magnetic force, he also describes the properties of static electricity, and it is from Gilbert's description of static electricity in amber that Sir Thomas Brown coined the term "electricity" in the first edition of his work, Pseudodoxia epidemica (1546).

William Gilbert's work stimulated the later thoughts of Galileo Galilei (1564- 1642) and Johannes Keppler (1571-1630), both of whose works are also represented in the Rare Book & Special Collections Division.


The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.