Wynkyn de Worde, father of Fleet Street

the long version

"Wynkyn de Worde was William Caxton's assistant, and in about 1500 he was the first printer to set up his shop in London's Fleet Street, which was for centuries perhaps the world's most famous centre of printing." "He was not just a craftsman; his place in history is that of the first publisher to popularise the products of the printing press. He realised that there was a wide market for cheap, affordable publications. His output was huge - more than 700 works over a period of 40 years. He produced a great variety of books; children's books, short histories, poetry, romances, instructions for pilgrims, and works on good manners, marriage, household practice, medicines for horses, and husbandry. Some were topical pamphlets that were produced at high speed, just like the newspaper of today. Wynkyn de Worde built on the foundations of commercial publishing in Britain that had been created by Caxton."--BOOK JACKET.