Wynkyn de Worde

Wynkyn de Worde (; died 1534, London) was a printer and publisher in London known for his work with William Caxton, and is recognised as the first to popularise the products of the printing press in England.

Name

Wynkyn de Worde was a German immigrant to England. His name is given in the forms Wynkyn de Worde, Wynken de Worde, Wynkyn de Word, Wijnkijn de Worde, and Winandus van Worden ("Wynkyn" is a diminutive of "Wynand"). It is also given 15 times in the sacrist's roll of Westminster Abbey and in city records as variants of "John Wynkyn", including John Wynkyn, Johannes Wynkyn, Jan Wynkyn, and Jan van Wynkyn.

He is also recorded as Willelmo Wynkyn ("William Wynkyn") once and as Mr. Wylkyns eight times. His son Richard is recorded as Richard Wynkyn and Rycharde de Worde.

Some authors have therefore concluded that his real name was John Wynkyn (or Wynand) and that "de Worde" was "merely a place name", while others have concluded that his real name was Wynkyn (or Wynand) de Worde and that "John" was an added name: "It is… possible that John Wynkyn was an Anglicized alias devised by de Worde himself for occasional use—though why, and for what occasions, remains obscure."

Life and work

De Worde was likely born in either Wörth an der Sauer in Alsace or Wörth am Rhein in the Palatinate. Traditionally, he was believed to have accompanied William Caxton to England in 1476; more recently, it has been argued that de Worde actually arrived around 1481, and that Caxton brought him to England to counter the competition of a second printer, John Lettou, who set up a press in London in 1480. Sometime while in England, de Worde married a woman named Elizabeth.