At the end of last week I nipped over to Senate House Library (the central library for the University of London) for their latest exhibition, The English Print Revolution: Caxton and Beyond. It’s a great little show with a fine selection of books printed in England (and abroad) from the 15th century onwards.

Here’s the intro blurb:

“Books were normally written by hand until the mid 15th century. Then in Germany Johann Gutenberg developed a process of printing books using movable type. The revolutionary new technique spread quickly throughout continental Europe. Book production increased and prices dropped.

An English merchant named William Caxton learned and practised printing in Cologne and Bruges. In 1476 he brought the art to England. Caxton printed about 90 books, 74 of them in English.

Printing transformed the way people read, learned and exchanged ideas. It helped to standardise the English language. This exhibition demonstrates how Caxton paved the way for new typefaces, clearer page design, new methods of illustration and new genres. He is honoured today as the father of English printing.”

Here’s The Game and Play of Chess by Jacobus de Cessolis, printed by Caxton in 1483:

As a member of the Wynkyn de Worde Society, it was great to see a copy of Catho cum Commento (below), printed in 1512 by Wynkyn de Worde, who took over Caxton’s press after his death, setting up the first commercial press on Fleet Street. (This spread features de Worde’s printer’s device – based on William Caxton’s – which you can read more about here.)

Check out this amazing title page from The Byble in Englyshe (The Great Bible) – the first authorised English bible, printed in 1539 by Richard Grafton and Edward Whitchurch – depicting a bethroned Henry VIII dolling out bibles.

(Not my greatest photograph – but you can see a detailed version on this edition on archive.org.)

Also on display is one of the first printed histories of England, Scotland and Ireland: Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, printed by Henry Bynneman for John Harrison in 1577, and widely believed to have provided the inspiration for many of Shakespeare’s plays:

There’s also a section looking at how Caxton’s reputation took off in the 18th century, with Joseph Ames’s Typographical Antiquities, published in 1749.

This free exhibition is open from now until 1 July 2026, open 9am–7pm during the week, and 9:45am–5pm on Saturdays.