Sunday, January 28, 2018

David on Wynkyn de Worde



Wynkyn de Worde (David Jones)

Wynkyn de Worde, whose original name was probably Jan van Wynkyn, was a printer and publisher who revolutionized the printing industry. His date of birth is unrecorded, but believed to be around the mid-fifteenth century. His  place of birth is generally believed to be somewhere in the region of Alsace, in north-eastern France. He was the assistant to William Caxton, although how they met is unknown. What is known is that when Caxton died in 1491, de Worde took control of his printing shop in Westminster. In 1500, he moved the shop to Fleet Street, a London street now synonymous with printing. It was there where he continued to refine the printing process, improving on the quality of the materials utilized by Caxton. He used woodcuts to illustrate many of his printed works, re-using some used by Caxton while commissioning new ones from skilled craftsman. These new woodcuts were of higher quality and were often used more than once in different printed works. de Worde was also the first printer in England to utilize italic font. His publications covered a number of different genres, from traditional literature to contemporary poetry. At the time of his death, he was responsible for over 800 printed works. Some of his most famous publications include Treatise of Love and The Canterbury Tales. His success with popularizing printed works lead many to regard his as England’s first ‘typographer’. Wynkyn de Worde died in 1534.



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