Case 9: Early Printing in England: A European History
The German invention of printing with movable types spread like wildfire across Europe during the second half of the 15th century. In 1476 the wealthy English merchant William Caxton brought the first printing press from the continent to England after he had already owned a printing shop in Bruges for several years. Three types of printers played significant roles in the early history of English printing: English printers trained on the continent, European printers from the continent who settled in England, and English printers publishing on the continent.
Represented in the exhibition is a small selection of books illustrating those European ties, starting
with William Caxton’s The Game and Play of Chess (A.2.7). Sebastian Brant’s hugely popular satire The Ship of Fools (Cpbd.b.2.upper shelf.6) was printed in Latin and English translations by the French Richard Pynson, one of the leading printers in London after Caxton. St John’s College holds a first edition of the historically important English Geneva Bible (HB4/6.a.4.17), which was financed, produced, and printed by English refugees in Geneva (Switzerland).
