caxton«Printing [typography] was introduced in England in 1476 by William Caxton, who owes his

caxton«Printing [typography] was introduced in England in 1476 by William Caxton, who owes his fame, however, to more than the fact that he was England’s proto-typographer. For he was not only the first of English printers—he was also ‘the first in a long line of English publishers who have been men of letters … and was likewise one of the earliest in the succession of English merchants and men of affairs who have found recreation and fame in the production of literature’.»  [d.b. updike, Printing Types, vol. 1, oxford university press, 1937, p113; updike is quoting from a paper by george parker winship: William Caxton, doves press, 1909]. it is a misnomer referring to caxton as printer—conjures  images of setting type & pulling prints: he was a printer in the sense that he owned a printing establishment; but his press was for him a means to effect trade—he was his whole life a professional merchant. severin corsten in his paper «Caxton in Cologne» gives strong argument, deduced from the misty history surrounding caxton’s acquisition of the black art, that the city of cologne occasioned caxton’s close study of this new technology while seeing an edition of bartholemew’s De Proprietatibus Rerum through the press in johann veldener’s printing office (veldener had learned the art in the office of ulrich zell—cologne’s first printer); caxton may have also materially participated in this publication [Journal of the Printing Historical Society, No.11, 1975/6]. caxton set up his first office at bruge in 1472, where he issued the first printed, english language book in 1474, his first literary translation, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. finally, caxton removed back to london in the autumn of 1476 with apparatus & assistant, wynkyn de worde, establishing his office within the precincts of westminster abbey.richard deacon [donald mccormick] tells us in his interesting book William Caxton the First English Editor [frederick muller, london, 1976, p92]: «It is clear that Caxton had a passion for the English language, for developing it and for changing it from a hotchpotch of dialects to a cohesive, expressive force.» caxton lamented the kentish weald dialect of his upbringing: «He was for ever striving after changing what he called ‘the rude and old Englyssh’.»* [ibid., p55]. deacon’s book is set throughout in monotype van dijck [english monotype 203]—inspiration for setting caxton’s locution in monotype’s digital reissue of van dijck italic. monotype van dijck italic is jan van krimpen’s 1937-8 adaptation of the Augustijn Romeyn italic cut by christoffel van dyck, as shown on the 1681 specimen issued as a sales catalogue by the widow of daniel elsevier, in amsterdam [stanley morison, A Tally of Types, cup, 1973, appendix p113 ]. the punches for van dyck’s founts passed down by sale through several foundries, finally again reuniting in 1799 in the famed amsterdam foundry joh. enschedé en zonen [ibid., p115].digital print [toner] on cartiera amatruda amalfi.*full context: «[I] somwhat have chaunged the rude and old Englyssh, that is to wete certayn wordes which in these dayes be neither usyd ne understanden» [cf. n.f. blake, Caxton and his World, andre deutsch, london, 1969, p181]. -- source link

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