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.

There was no successor to carry on Caxton’s traditions of scholarship, of literary taste, or even of craftsmanship. Caxton, as we have said, was a successful business man before he became a printer and was doubtless financially independent during the whole of his later life. His successors were men who were dependent entirely upon their craft for their livelihood. Caxton’s immediate successors were two, Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Lorraine, and Richard Pynson, a native of Normandy. Both of these men appear to have learned their trade with Caxton. Wynkyn de Worde carried on the business after Caxton’s death. De Worde appears to have been a man of very little education. Pynson was a graduate of the University of Paris, but he never became at home in the English language.

De Worde carried on the Caxton business from 1491 to 1534, at first in Caxton’s own shop, afterward in London (Westminster and London have now grown together, but at that time they were a considerable distance apart). During this time De Worde published over six hundred books. His books were cheap and poor in every way. De Worde was slow to start publishing. He published almost nothing for a couple of years after Caxton’s death. He appears to have lacked initiative and probably lacked capital. He seems to have discovered that there was money in cheap publications of a sort that catered to the popular taste, and he diligently worked that line of business. He appears to have made money, but cannot be credited with any higher type of success. He hired translators and editors and he evidently hired cheap ones, as the editorial work on his books is not good.

Pynson printed from 1492 to 1529. He did a much higher class of work than De Worde, although he is by no means eminent for his typography. He made less money than De Worde, but appears to have kept out of financial difficulties. His publications were mostly law books. He took over the business of Lettou and Machlinia, but had specialized in law books on becoming printer to the king in 1510. Pynson introduced the use of roman type in 1509, although it was some time before it displaced the gothic in common use. In 1523 to 1525 he printed Lord Berners’s translation of the “Chronicle” of Froissart. In literature this is a notable event. Froissart was really the first modern historian. The book marks the transition from the dry chronicles of the Middle Ages to history proper.

Robert Copeland, who began to print about 1514, is notable as being probably the first English printer, that is to say, the first native-born Englishman to go into the business.

One of the few good printers of this early period was Thomas Berthelet or Bartlett. Berthelet was a Welshman and was an excellent bookbinder as well as a good printer. He was the first man in England to use gold tooling on his binding. Berthelet enjoyed the position of royal printer. Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch were the first printers of English Bibles, which began to appear about the middle of the sixteenth century.

CHAPTER II
The Regulation of the Industry and the Company of Stationers

The middle of the sixteenth century marks a distinct change in English printing. Up to this time the industry in England had been neither organized, regulated, nor censored. It had been conducted under conditions of freedom almost identical with those which exist to-day, a state of things entirely anomalous in that period. The quality of English printing in this period was generally very poor. In spite, however, of the poor workmanship, there lingers something of the old craftsman spirit. Although the books show glaring imperfections, they also show a certain dignity and harmony which is reminiscent of the spirit of the old craftsmen. In detail, however, the work was poor both in composition and presswork. It showed an almost entire lack of originality. Types, wood-cuts, initials, ornaments, and even the printer’s devices were not only bought from the continent of Europe but bought second-hand and used long after signs of wear had become painfully evident. Wood-cuts especially were not only over-used but misused. They were not infrequently inserted with absolute disregard of the text. The printers not only stuck in pictures which had no bearing whatever upon the subject matter, but they used the same picture more than once in the same book.

The reason for this is to be found in the fact that the proprietors of the large shops were intent on profit and the proprietors of the small shops had no capital. The experience of Wynkyn de Worde had shown that the way to make money was by printing popular books which could be sold cheap, and his successors learned the lesson only too rapidly. There was no effective demand for good printing. The smaller printers had to buy such materials as they could afford and compete as best they could.