Title

Going Full Circle

Description

The printed book democratised literature because printed books were cheaper than manuscripts. At the same time, the fact that paper and ink were made by hand ensured high quality. Caxton did not aim to produce beautiful books as some Continental printers did. However, in his Malory he uses woodcut initials for the first time, a feature which was decorative as well as functional.

The first major change in book production after Caxton was the mechanisation of all aspects of the printing process in the nineteenth century. Books became very much more affordable, but it was impossible to maintain both low price and high quality. The private press movement instigated by William Morris in the 1890s restored hand production and high quality but at a financial cost; one could not have both.

William Caxton printed Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur in 1485. His version remained the only one known until the Winchester manuscript was rediscovered in 1934.