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William Caxton Was B R O N , and Learnt His English in the Weald , It Was a Wild District with a Scanty Population ; Its Inhabitants Had

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William Caxton Was B R O N , and Learnt His English in the Weald , It Was a Wild District with a Scanty Population ; Its Inhabitants Had WILLIAMCA TON X , TH E FI R S T E N G L I S H P R I N TE R . i o 3 fi gmp bg . H A R L ES KN I G H T C . I N N E W E D T I O . L O N D O N A M WI LLI L W S S N S H A RD WI CK B G C O E O , E O U E, 1 3 ll A Rl NG (m , C oss, s . w . 1 92 P , IOCA DI LLY . w . N T E O . ’ “ THE re - issue o f Charles Knight s The Old Printe r has b ee n considered appropriate to the celebration o f the Quar centenary o f the Introduction o f Printing into En lan a g d. The author himself was worthy follower o f f Caxton , and his name marks an era in the spread o literature by means o f the printing press . No alteration has been made in the text o f the w o rk ; ri ina l c but since its o g publication considerable advan es , as a Wi ll the re der notice , have been made towards the ’ fulfilm ent of the author s aspirations . All p ro fi ts a ri s ing fro m the s a l e o f thi s vo lum e w i ll b e de vo te d to the C axto n ” Fun d no w b e ing fo rm e d i n co nne cti o n W ith th e C e l e bra ti o n o f th e Quarce nte nary o f the I ntro ducti o n o f P ri nting into Engl ahd . June 1 87 , 7 . C O N T E N T S . CHAPTER I . P A C 8 — ’ — The Weald o f Kent Caxto n s Schoo l - days French di sused — s a — ri ME lis h— s e o Engli h t ught Ya ati O ng Book b f re — — — —l ' Printingzy b raries n nscrihers n hs fo r the Grea t - — k r h — h n d EEd Beak Trzgde No Boo s fo t e p le C a gw p ro u 1 1 CHAPTER I I. ’ The Merc A rentice e — er s p p f m Q gw me, London City A p p rentices City — V/ Pageants Sp read o f Englis h P II I CHA TER . ’ A b road Cax n s Ml Lsg i s— es r Caxton to gfi p jflm J R t ictions o n d e CE m iss io n Merchants arks — — - Begi nm ngs o f Printing Playing Carde Wood engraving — - — Block b o o k s Movable Types Guttenberg Gutten ’ — berg s Statue Festival at Mentz P E IV CHA T R . — — The Court o f Burgundy Caxton a Translato r Li terature o f — — Chival ry F eudal Tim es Caxto n at the D ucal Court m — Did Caxto n pri nt at Bruges Edward the Fugitive The Ne w A rt iii CONTEN T v S . H P V C A TER . P A GE — — M Who the fi rst E nglish Printer Caxton — W ehm Mn hsh P n Bo o E g ri ted i ul _ fi o f . the b indi jfi c ties . rs L m texs e Boo k Q Anci nt ( n — The Printer a p t; Ch eap ness in P VI CHA TER . — The Press at Westmins ter Theolo gica l Bm k sz ChmacterJ f ‘ "N J U I ' «4 ’ W s P es —The ro —The Ga o f the e 1 00 r s T y Book me Ch ss . P VII CHA TER . — — — Female Manners Lord R1vers Po pular History Popular — _ — — So l ence Popular Fables Popular Translatmns The Can — — — ’ terb ury Tales Statutes Books o f Chival ry Caxton 8 las t D ays P V CHA TER III . h h — — — T e C apel The Com p a nio ns f Igggg g gi Eggdexg B o ' g o ks — ’ — ’ — m ake Beadegg Caxto n s g m XVynkyn s Dream The fi rs t Pap er- mill A PPEND IX A . I NVENTI ON OF PRINTI NG PP EN D IX A B. BOOKS PR IN TED BY CA X TON A PP END I X C . AU THORITI ES LI ST OF I LLUSTRATI ONS . P A G E ‘ AND NI A RE O F WI LLIA MCAX TO N Fro nti sp zece . TRAN SCRIBER A T WORK K E R LYDGATE P RESEN TIN G A BO O TO TH E AR L OF SALISBU Y . ’ MR TS MR KS E CHAN A BLOCK AND STEN CLL INST RUMENTS KNAVE OF BELLS KN VE o p M TER 01? 1 4 66 A , AS ’ TH E Wm : MEN S FF R O E ING ANCIENT P RESS P RINTING O FFICE OF TH E P AST ' ’ ‘ - r ME p FA C I I E o KNI G T I N CA xrON s n TH E G o S M L A H Boo , A ’ THE C uEss L o m) R m mé RE ENT N T ED W RD V P S I G m s Boon O A I . ‘ ’ ‘ - o n Mm ao a O F FA C SD H LE 011 Musxc m o m TH E E TH E , IMAG ’ W R O LD . MAR K OF WYNhYN D E WORDE R MRK Y NK E RD PORT AIT AND A 01? W YN D WO E ' SPECIMEN OF CA X TON S TYPE xe xm z PORTR IT —G FTTENBUBG T N CH O V A S , FUS , A D S EFFER W I L L I A MC A X T O N . I CHAPTER . ’ — - — THE VVEA LD OF KEN T OAKTON S SCHOOL DAYS FR ENCH D I SUSED EN G LI SH TA UG IIT—VARIATION S IN EN GLI S H—BOOKS BEFOR E P RINTING — — — — LIBR ARIES TRA N SCB l BER S BOOKS FO R TH E G REAT BOOK TRADE K — R D D NO BOO S FO R THE PEOPLE C HANG ES P O U CE BY PRINTING . N fi rs t b k n the oo printed in the English la guage , ‘ the subject of which was the Histories o f ’ Tr l t oy , Wil iam Caxton , the transla or of the fro m work the French , in his prologue o r o f a l preface , says , by way p o og y for his sim p lenes s and imperfectness in the French and English “ I n I b rn languages , France was never, and was o and learned mine Eng lish in Kent , in the Weald , where I doubt not is spoken as b road and rude English as in any ” f En land. place o g The Weald of Kent is now a, fertile r co rn - land - dist ict, rich in and pasture , with farm houses f and villages spread over its sur ace , intersected by g oo d oa a o f i r ds , and railway running through the heart t, 1 2 W LL M C H A R I . I IA CAXTON . [ bringing the scattered inhabitants closer and closer to each other . But at the period when William Caxton was b r o n , and learnt his English in the Weald , it was a wild district with a scanty population ; its inhabitants had ff o f little intercourse with the towns , the a airs the busy o n world went without their knowledge and assistance , they were more separated from the great b ody o f their countrymen than a settler in Canada o r Australia is at the present day . It is easy to understand therefore why they should have spoken a broad and rude English at ’ Ca xto n s H V. the time of boyhood , during the reign of enry o f o f m and the beginning that Henry VI . Willia Lam u fi ft barde , who wrote a h ndred and y years after this l ’ period , having published his Perambu ation of Kent in 1 5 7 0 as c m m , mentions a o on opinion touching this Weald “ o f Kent , that it was a great while together in manner ls nothing e e but a desert and waste wilderness, not planted with towns o r peopled with men as the outsides o f the t and ff o f shire were , but s ored stu ed with herds deer and o f he o n droves hogs only and goes to say that , although the property of the Weald was at the fi rs t belonging to n certai known owners , yet it was not then allotted into ” o f tenancies . The Weald Kent came to be taken , he says , i t even as men were contented to inhabit , and by peace to o f meal rid it the wood , and to break it up with the ” h plough . In some lonely farm , then . of t is wild district , w e u f o w n fi x are , p on the best o evidence , his words , to the birth - p laee and the earliest home of the fi rs t English printer .
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