Other books printed by Caxton were the _Canterbury Tales_; _Boethius_;
_Parvus et Magnus Catho_, a mediæval school-book, the third edition of
which contains two woodcuts, probably the earliest produced in England;
_The Historye of Reynart the Foxe_, translated from the Dutch by Caxton;
_A Book of the Chesse Moralysed_, a second edition of the _Game and Play
of the Chesse_, printed by Caxton abroad; _The Cronicles of Englond_;
_The Pylgremage of the Sowle_, believed to have been translated from the
French by Lydgate; Gower's _Confessio Amantis_; _The Knyght of the
Toure_, translated by Caxton from the French; _The Golden Legend_,
consisting of lives of saints compiled by Caxton from French and Latin
texts; _The Fables of Esope_, etc., translated by Caxton from the
French; Chaucer's _Book of Fame_; _Troylus and Creside_; Malory's _Morte
d'Arthur_; _The Book of Good Manners_, translated by Caxton from the
French of Jacques Legrand; _Statutes of Henry VII._, in English, the
"earliest known volume of printed statutes"; _The Governal of Helthe_,
from the Latin, author and translator unknown, the "earliest medical
work printed in English"; _Divers Ghostly Matters_, including tracts on
the seven points of true love and everlasting wisdom, the Twelve Profits
of Tribulation, and the Rule of St Benet; _The Fifteen Oes and other
Prayers_, printed by command of "our liege ladi Elizabeth ... Quene of
Englonde, and of the ... pryncesse Margarete," and the "prouffytable
boke for mannes soule and right comfortable to the body and specyally
in aduersitee and trybulacyon, whiche boke is called _The Chastysing of
Goddes Chyldern_."
Between seventy and eighty different books, besides indulgences and
other small productions, are attributed to Caxton's press, and the works
just named will serve to give an idea of their diversity and range. Some
of the most popular were printed more than once; of the _Golden Legend_,
for example, three editions are known, and of the _Dictes or Sayings_,
the _Horæ_, and _Parvus et Magnus Catho_, and several others, two
editions are known. There is also a strong probability that many of
Caxton's productions have been lost altogether, since thirty-eight of
those yet extant are represented either by single copies or by
fragments.
[Illustration: BOYS LEARNING GRAMMAR, from Caxton's "Catho" and "Mirrour
of the World."]
Caxton, according to Mr Blades, used six different founts of Gothic
type, but Mr E. Gordon Duff, in his _Early English Printing_, credits
him with eight founts. His books are all printed on paper, with the
exception of a copy of the _Speculum Vitæ Christi_ in the British
Museum, and one of the _Doctrinal of Sapyence_, in the Royal Library at
Windsor Castle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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