After spending several years in the Low Countries, William Caxton returned to England in 1476. Upon his return, he set up a printing press in Westminster, London, and began to print books in English. His decision to introduce the printing press to England marked a turning point in English history, for the printing press would become one of the most transformative innovations in the development of literature, culture, and the spread of knowledge.

Before the advent of printing, books in England were painstakingly copied by hand, a slow and costly process that limited access to books to a small elite. The introduction of the printing press, however, made it possible to produce books much more quickly and inexpensively, thereby increasing their availability to a wider audience. Caxton recognized that the printing press had the potential to revolutionize not only the production of books but also the English language itself. By printing books in English, he hoped to make literature more accessible and to help standardize the English language, which was still in the process of evolving.

The Printing of "The Canterbury Tales"

William Caxton’s first major project as a printer was the publication of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. Chaucer, one of the most important poets of medieval England, had written The Canterbury Tales in Middle English, and it had already become a widely known work. However, the text existed in numerous manuscripts, each with slight variations in spelling, grammar, and word choice. These variations were largely due to the fact that the book had been copied by hand, and different scribes had made different choices in their transcriptions.

Caxton recognized the importance of printing The Canterbury Tales in order to preserve Chaucer’s work and make it more widely available. He printed the first edition of The Canterbury Tales in 1478, making it one of the earliest books produced in England using movable type. The printed edition helped standardize the text and made it available to a much larger audience than ever before. It is important to note that Caxton did not simply reproduce the text as it was but also made some editorial decisions, including adding or omitting certain parts. In doing so, he played a significant role in shaping the way Chaucer’s work would be read and interpreted in the centuries to come. shutdown123