often deprecates in his prefaces
was no vice of his, for in addition to his voluminous translations his
output as a printer was over 18,000 pages, and he published ninety-six
separate works or editions of works, with apparently little skilled
assistance, though later printers, Wynkyn de Worde, Robert Copland and
possibly Richard Pynson, were trained under him.

The different founts of type used by Caxton are illustrated by Blades
and Duff, and there is an excellent selection of Caxtons in the British
Museum, in the University library at Cambridge, besides those in private
hands. A record price for a Caxton was reached in 1902 when Mr Bernard
Quaritch paid L2225 for _The Royal Book_ (1487?), a translation of the
popular _Somme des vices et des vertus_. His books have no title-pages,
and from 1487 onwards are usually adorned with a curious device,
consisting of the letters W.C. separated by a trade mark, with an
elaborate border above and below. The flourishes on the trade mark have
been fancifully interpreted as S.C. for Sancta Colonia, implying that
Caxton learnt his art at Cologne, and the whole mark has been read as
74, for 1474, the date of his first printed book. This device was first
used in an edition of the Sarum missal, printed for Caxton by George
Maynial in Paris, and was subsequently adopted with small alterations by
his successor at the Westminster press, Wynkyn de Worde. The first of
his books containing woodcut illustrations was his _Myrrour of the
World_ (1481), translated from Vincent de Beauvais, which has diagrams
and pictures for the assistance of young students. He had used a woodcut
initial letter in his broadside _Indulgence_ printed in 1480.

[Illustration:]

No record of Caxton's marriage or of the birth of his children has been
found, but Gerard Croppe was separated from his wife Elizabeth, daughter
of William Caxton, before 1496, when Croppe made certain claims in
connexion with his father-in-law's will.

AUTHORITIES.--Earlier biographies of Caxton were superseded by the
work of William Blades, whose _Life and Typography of William Caxton_
(2 vols., 1861-1863) remains the standard authority. It contains a
bibliography of each of the works issued from Caxton's press. For
later discoveries see George Bullen's _Catalogue_ of the Caxton
celebration loan collection exhibited at South Kensington in 1877;
articles by E.J.L. Scott in the _Athenaeum_ (Feb. 10, 1900; May 21 and
June 8