United States or Sint Maarten ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Caxton seems to have seen at once the vast importance of the invention, and got Mansion to print two books in English, the first ever set up in the language. These were: "A Recuyell of the Historyes of Troie," printed 1474; and "The Game and Playe of the Chesse." Apparently the experiment met with success.
His first literary labour was a translation of a French romance, which he entitled The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, and which he finished in 1471. About this time he learned the art of printing, and, after being in the service of Margaret Duchess of Burgundy, an English princess, returned to his native country and set up at Westminster in 1476 his printing press, the first in England.
Johnson, in another column of his Diary, has put down, in a note, 'First printed book in Greek, Lascaris's Grammar, 4to, Mediolani, 1476. The imprint of this book is, Mediolani Impressum per Magistrum Dionysium Paravisinum. M.CCCC.LXXVI. Die xxx Januarii. The first book printed in the English language was the Historyes of Troye, printed in 1471.
DUPPA. A copy of the Historyes of Troy is exhibited in the Bodleian Library with the following superscription: 'Lefevre's Recuyell of the historyes of Troye. The first book printed in the English language. Issued by Caxton at Bruges about 1474. The Battle of the Frogs and Mice. The first edition was printed by Laonicus Cretensis, 1486. Mr. Coulson was a Senior Fellow of University College.
Word Of The Day