William Caxton
William Caxton is the first English printer. He was born in Kent in 1422. His father was a farmer. William did not want to become a farmer like his father. So his father sent him to London. He worked in an office which traded with different countries. William liked to read new books which were printed in Europe.
When William Caxton was thirty, after his master’s death he started his own business in Belgium. In 1471 he left his business and began to translate French books into English. He became interested in printing and at last he learnt it. William wanted to have his own press one day and he did.
In 1476 he brought his printing-press to London. Printing was something new at that time and most people thought that it was the work of the devil. Some of the people wanted to break his press. Caxton printed his first book in 1477. It was the first book printed in the English language. The book was Caxton’s translation of the French ‘Tales of Troy’.
William Caxton printed about eighty books. He translated thirty-one books from French, Caxton died in 1491.
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