After learning printing on the Continent, William Caxton set up a printing shop in Westminster in late 1476. This is widely treated as the start of printing in England and the beginning of Caxton’s Westminster operation.
In December 1476, Caxton printed an indulgence (a Church-issued certificate) at his Westminster shop. This kind of small, practical document shows how early printing served administrative and religious needs, not just books.
Caxton printed an early edition of Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales at Westminster during the first years of his English shop. Printing Chaucer helped demonstrate that English-language literature could succeed in print, supporting a market beyond Latin religious and scholarly imports.
Caxton printed Dictes and Sayenges of the Phylosophers at Westminster, with a colophon date of November 18, 1477. It is often cited as the first book printed in England to bear an explicit publication date, marking a key milestone for English printing and book trade recordkeeping.
By the late 1470s, Caxton’s Westminster workplace was being advertised as located “at the Red Pale” in the Almonry area. This helps confirm the workshop’s public-facing, retail side—customers could come to Westminster to buy printed materials.
In 1482, Caxton printed Polychronicon, a popular world chronicle translated into English by John Trevisa, and added his own continuation of the history to 1460. The project shows Caxton acting not just as printer but also as editor and authorial voice, shaping what readers saw as “current” history.
Caxton’s English Golden Legend—a large collection of saints’ lives—was finished at Westminster in November 1483. It became one of his biggest and most influential publications, showing how his workshop could handle major, heavily used religious reference books for lay readers.
Caxton printed Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur in 1485, completing it at Westminster on July 31 according to the colophon. This printing helped fix an influential version of the Arthurian stories in English and shows Caxton’s role in promoting major English literary works in print.
In 1490, Caxton printed Eneydos, an English rendering connected to Virgil’s Aeneid tradition. The book is often noted for Caxton’s comments about translating and about language change, reflecting the practical challenges of turning older texts into readable English for new print audiences.
Caxton died in 1491, ending the first phase of England’s first printing enterprise at Westminster. His death mattered because it tested whether English printing could continue as a business beyond one founder’s skills and personal network.
Records associated with St Margaret’s, Westminster, list William Caxton among those buried there in 1491. This anchors his life and work in the Westminster community where his printing shop operated and where early English printing first took root.
After Caxton’s death, his employee Wynkyn de Worde assumed control of the printing business. This transition helped turn Caxton’s pioneering workshop into a continuing commercial enterprise, extending the impact of the Westminster press into the next generation of English print.
William Caxton's Westminster Press (1476–1491)