THE time is not yet ripe for a definite book
on Caxton. William Blades' classical work is still the authority for all relevant typographical and technical details, but we await an adequate account of the background in which Caxton produced his books, the conditions of supply and demand, the struggle with the Continent, the conflict between manuscript and printed book, the conditions of circulation, the very bread and butter details of the relations between printer, patron and public. Mr. Plomer, whose contributions to the early history of English printing rank among the highest, has attempted to fill the gap by combatting the theory that Caxton was a follower of public taste for Isis own personal profit. The present biography is too nobly idealistic in tone, too much the fairy tale told to the children, too full of " no doubts " and " we may readily believes," but it should serve to stimulate the fading interest in a man who need not have printed the Canterbury Tales, the Golden Legend, and the ?Norte d'Artitur, but somehow decided to do so.
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