Wynkyn de Worde

Wynkyn de Worde was a printer and publisher in London who is recognized as the first to popularize the products of the printing press in England.

De Worde came to England to work at William Caxton’s press, Westminster (the first printing enterprise in England), from its foundation in 1476 until Caxton’s death in 1491. After Caxton’s death, de Worde took over the press and while Caxton had depended on noble patrons to sustain his enterprise, de Worde shifted his emphasis to the creation of relatively inexpensive books for a commercial audience and the beginnings of a mass market. He also increased the number of woodcut illustrations in his editions. In 1500, de Worde moved his firm London, and was the first printer to set up a site on Fleet Street, which for centuries became synonymous with printing. To reduce cost of printing he used paper made in England, unlike his former employer who imported it from the Low Countries.

He published more than 400 books in over 800 editions, and his greatest success, in terms of volume, was the Latin grammar of Robert Whittington, which he issued in 155 editions.