Caxton’s printing was not remarkable for typographical excellence. He used soft type and thin ink, very much to the detriment of the beauty of his impressions. The first type which he used was a font of black letter made in imitation of the handwriting of the Burgundian clerks of the time. This font had belonged to Mansion and was probably obtained by Caxton from Mansion’s creditors. Later he cut for himself several other fonts, some authorities say five, some seven. All of his fonts were black-letter Gothic and all more or less related to the Burgundian script with which he began. He used / instead of commas and periods. He had a habit of correcting typographical errors by hand after the books were finished. He went over the first copy, making the corrections himself, and afterward the other copies were made to conform by clerks or apprentices. While Caxton was at work a few other printers made their appearance in England. Some time before 1478 Theodoric Rood, of Cologne, opened a printing office at Oxford. The office was open for about eight years, but seems to have done only a small business. We have fifteen books which are known to have come from this press. They were printed from three different fonts of type. Two of them were good letters imported from Cologne. About 1487 Rood disappeared and is supposed to have gone back to Cologne. In 1479 a press was started at the abbey of St. Albans. This press published eight books that we know of, all for church use or the direct use of the abbey. These books were printed from four fonts of type, two of which are identical with two of Caxton’s. It is possible that this was a side enterprise of Caxton’s, although it is equally possible that the abbey may have bought the type of Caxton or obtained the use of his matrices or even hired some type of him. The conclusions based on apparent identity of type-faces are always doubtful, as this identity may be accounted for in a considerable number of ways. In 1480 a printer appeared in London named John Lettou. Lettou was evidently not an Englishman, but his origin is unknown. The word Lettou is an old form of Lithuania. Attempts have been made to identify him with certain continental printers, but as these attempts rest on similarities of type-face they are uncertain. Soon after his appearance Lettou was associated with William Machlinia or de Machlinia (William of Mechlin or Malines in Belgium). Machlinia made a specialty of law books. The business was later taken over by Richard Pynson. None of these made any particular contribution to typography. Their interest lies chiefly in the fact that they were the beginners of English printing.