William Caxton (c. 1422 – c. 1491) was an English merchant, diplomat, writer and printer. He is thought to be the first English person to work as a printer and the first to introduce a printing press into England, which he did in 1476. He was also the first English retailer of printed books (his London contemporaries in the same trade were all Flemish, German, or French). In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons in a BBC poll.