William Caxton, our first printer, was born, as he himself tells us, ‘in the Weald of Kent,’ but unfortunately he has given us no clue to the date; probably it was about 1420; and in 1438 he was apprenticed to Robert Large, a mercer of the city of London, who was Lord Mayor in 1439-40. His business necessitated his residence abroad, and he doubtless left England shortly after his apprenticeship, for in 1469 he tells us that he had been ‘thirty years for the most part in the countries of Brabant, Flanders, Holland, and Zetland.’ In 1453 he visited England, and was admitted to the Livery of the Mercers’ Company. About 1468 he was acting as governor to the ‘English Nation residing abroad,’ or ‘Merchant Adventurers’ at Bruges. After some six or seven years in this position, he entered the service of Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy, sister of Edward IV. The greater leisure which this appointment afforded him was employed in literary pursuits. In March 1469 he commenced a translation of the _Recueil des Histoires de Troyes_, by Raoul le Fèvre, but it was not finished till 19th September 1471, when Caxton was staying at Cologne. This visit to Cologne marks an interesting period in Caxton’s career, for it is most probable that it was there he learnt to print. Wynkyn de Worde tells us that the first book printed by Caxton was the _Bartholomæus de proprietatibus rerum_, and that it was printed at Cologne. It has been the general custom of writers to condemn this story as impossible, perhaps without sufficiently examining the facts. W. de Worde says in his preface to the English edition— ‘And also of your charyte call to remembraunce The soule of William Caxton the first prynter of this boke In laten tongue at Coleyn, hymself to avaunce That every well disposed man may thereon loke.’ [Illustration: PAGE FROM SARUM BREVIARY. (_Printed at Cologne._)] Now, there is a Latin edition, evidently printed at Cologne about the time that Caxton was there, in a type almost identical with that of N. Gotz or the printer of the _Augustinus de fide_; and it was in conjunction with a very similar type, in 1476, that the ‘gros bâtarde’ type, which is so intimately connected with Caxton, first appeared. Though Caxton worked in partnership with Colard Mansion about 1475-77, he had probably learnt something of the art before; and, taking into consideration his journey to Cologne, the statement of Wynkyn de Worde, and the typographical connexion between the _Bartholomæus_ and Caxton’s books, we may safely say that the story cannot be put aside as without foundation. It is not, of course, suggested that Caxton printed the book by himself, but only that he assisted in its production. He was learning the art of printing in the office where this book was being prepared, and his practical knowledge was acquired by assisting to print it.