William Caxton introduced the printing press to England in 1476, helping standardize written English. A merchant, diplomat, translator, and printer, Caxton established his Westminster press after learning the trade on the European continent.
Caxton had already printed English material in Bruges, including his translation of Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye. In England, he produced works such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, making books in English more widely available and commercially viable.
Printing did not instantly create modern English, and Caxton was not England’s first writer or translator. However, repeated printing gave particular London and southeastern language forms wider influence. Printers also had to choose among competing spellings and dialects, which helped push written English toward greater consistency over time.
Johannes Gutenberg is a common mix-up: he developed the influential movable-type press in Mainz, but Caxton was the figure associated with bringing the technology to England.