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Wynkyn de Worde (also Wynken; originally Jan van Wynkyn) (d. 1534) was a printer and publisher known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press. A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium (such as paper or cloth thereby transferring an image

Contents

Life and work

De Worde was born in Wœrth in Alsace; the name by which he is generally known means "Wynkyn of Wœrth. Alsace (Alsace alzas Alsatian and Elsass pre-1996 German: Elsaß; Alsatia is one of the 26 Regions of France, located on the eastern " Traditionally, he was believed to have accompanied Caxton to England in 1476; more recently, it has been argued that de Worde actually arrived c. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland 1481, and that Caxton brought him to England to counter the competition of a second printer. (John Lettou set up a press in London in 1480. ) De Worde improved the quality of Caxton's product; he was, in this view, "England's first typographer. "[1] In 1495, following Caxton's death in 1491 and a three-year litigation, de Worde took over Caxton's print shop. [2]

De Worde is generally credited for moving English printing away from its late-Medieval beginnings and toward a modern model of functioning. Caxton had depended on noble patrons to sustain his enterprise; while de Worde enjoyed the support of patrons too (principally Margaret Beaufort, mother of King Henry VII), he shifted his emphasis to the creation of relatively inexpensive books for a commercial audience and the beginnings of a mass market. Lady Margaret Beaufort ( May 31, 1443 &ndash June 29, 1509) of the House of Lancaster was the mother of King Henry VII of Where Caxton had used paper imported from the Low Countries, de Worde exploited the product of John Tate, the first English papermaker. De Worde published more than 400 books in over 800 editions (though some are extant only in single copies and many others are extremely rare). His greatest success, in terms of volume, was the Latin grammar of Robert Whittington, which he issued in 155 editions. [3] Religious works dominated his output, in keeping with the tenor of the time; but de Worde also printed volumes ranging from romantic novels to poetry (he published the work of John Skelton and Stephen Hawes), and from children's books to volumes on household practice and animal husbandry. John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c 1460 &ndash June 21, 1529) English Poet, was born at Diss in Norfolk Stephen Hawes (d 1523 was a popular English poet during the Tudor period who is now little known He innovated in the use of illustrations: while only about 20 of Caxton's editions contained woodcuts, 500 of de Worde's editions were illustrated. [4]

He moved his firm from Caxton's location in Westminster to London; he was the first printer to set up a site on Fleet Street (1500), which for centuries became synonymous with printing. Fleet Street is a street in London, England named after the River Fleet. He was also the first man to build a book stall in St. Paul's Churchyard, which soon became a center of the book trade in London. St Paul's Cathedral, is the Anglican Cathedral on Ludgate Hill, in the City of London, and the seat of the Bishop of London.

De Worde was the first to use italic type (1528) and Hebrew and Arabic characters (1524) in English books; and his 1495 version of Polychronicon by Ranulf Higdon was the first English work to use movable type to print music. In Typography, italic type /ɪˈtælɪk/ or /aɪˈtælɪk/ refers to cursive Typefaces based on a stylized form of calligraphic Handwriting. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Ranulf Higdon (or Higden) (c 1280 - c 1363 was an English chronicler and a Benedictine monk of the Monastery of St Movable type is the system of Printing and Typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation

His name lives on via the "Wynkyn de Worde Society," founded in the United Kingdom in 1957 for "people dedicated to excellence in all aspects of printing and the various stages of its creation, production, finishing and dissemination. "

Published works

Books printed by de Worde include:

Other

Wynkyn de Worde was the historical basis for the character William de Worde in the book The Truth by Terry Pratchett. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in Prose, the rest in verse) " Jehan de Mandeville " translated as " Sir John Mandeville " is the name claimed by the compiler of a singular book of supposed travels written in Guy of Warwick is a legendary English hero of Romance popular in England and France from the 13th to the 17th century Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where John Skelton, also known as John Shelton (c 1460 &ndash June 21, 1529) English Poet, was born at Diss in Norfolk The ship of fools is an Allegory that has long been a fixture in Western literature and art. The World and the Child is an anonymous 16th century play The earliest surviving edition (printed by Wynkyn de Worde) is dated July 17, 1522. Gesta Romanorum, a Latin collection of anecdotes and tales was probably compiled about the end of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th The Truth is the twenty-fifth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 2000. Terence David John Pratchett, OBE (born 28 April 1948 is an English fantasy, Science fiction, and children's author.

References

  1. ^ Haley, Allan. Typographic Milestones. Hoboken, NJ, John Wiley & Sons, 1992; p. 15.
  2. ^ Hutmacher, William F. Wynkyn de Worde and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Amsterdam, Rodopi, 1987; pp. 7-8.
  3. ^ Loewenstein, David, and Janel Mueller, eds. The Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999; pp. 86-7.
  4. ^ Loewenstein and Mueller, p. 88.

External links

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