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.
The well-known device of Caxton was not used by him till 1487. It is usually understood to stand for W.C. 74, but its exact meaning is not known. Blades believes that it refers to the date of printing of _The Recuyell_, the first product of Caxton's typographical skill.
In 1480, three or four years after Caxton had settled at Westminster, John Lettou, a foreigner of whom little is known, established the first London printing-press.[4] His workmanship was particularly good, and he was the first in this country to print two columns to the page. He subsequently took into partnership William de Machlinia, and according to the colophon of their _Tenores Novelli_ the office of these two printers was located in the Church of All Saints', but this piece of information is too vague to assist in the identification of the spot. Machlinia is afterwards found working alone in an office near the Flete Bridge. His later books were printed in Holborn.
[4] It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that at this period Westminster was quite distinct from London.
A well-known name is that of Wynkyn de Worde, a native of Holland, and at one time assistant to Caxton. At Caxton's death he became master of the Red Pale, and issued a number of books "from Caxton's house in Westminster," including reprints of several of Caxton's publications. He made use of some modified forms of Caxton's device, but he also had a device of his own, which first appears in the _Book of Courtesye_ printed some time before 1493. He printed, among other works, the _Golden Legend_, the _Book of Courtesye_, Bonaventura's _Speculum Vitæ Christi_, Higden's _Polychronicon_, which appeared in 1495 and is the first English book with printed musical notes; Bartholomæus' _De Proprietatibus Rerum_, which appeared about 1495 and is the first book printed on English-made paper, and which has already been noticed as the authority for supposing that Caxton learned printing at Cologne; the _Boke of St Albans_, the _Chronicles of England_, _Morte D'Arthur_, _The Canterbury Tales_, etc., etc. He also issued a host of sermons, almanacs, and other minor works.