William Caxton
Caxton is believed to have been born in 1412, in the Weald of Kent and was, it is supposed, apprenticed to a merchant, as he was certainly, in after years, a man of more than ordinary knowledge. In 1464 he was commissioned, jointly with a Robert Whitehill, to confirm and prolong a treaty of commerce between Edward iv and Philip Duke of Normandy. He seems to have lived some years in Flanders and in 1469 commenced a translation of Raoul Le Fevre's 'Recueil des Histoires de Troye', which he printed in 1471 after previously printing the original and another work in Bruges, where he learned what was then known of the use of moveable type. In 1477 he completed, in the Almonry at Westminster, the 'Dictes of Sayings of the Philosophers' the first book printed in England.[1].
1877 The Caxton Exhibition to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the production by Caxton of the first book printed in England. The objects of greatest general interest are the specimens of this work of which there are no less than 192, representing over 80 different publications.[2].