Caxton Gallery , via
Le Recueil des Histoires de Troye , a 1464 oeuvre by Raoul Lefèvre , tells a chivalirized version of the history of the city Troy . The Grecian heroes , Hercules and Jason , are reforge as idealistic knights and founders of the Burgundian dynasty . It was translate by William Caxton into English soon after it was write and set up popularity under its new rubric , The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye . But these days , it is comfortably known for its place in the literary tradition as the first book ever printed in English , and it just sold for over one million dollar .
In the prologue of the English interlingual rendition , Caxtonrecordshow the " oeuvre was begun in Bruges in the County of Flanders , the first solar day of March , the year of the Incarnation of our said Lord God a thousand four hundred sixty and eight , and end and finished in the holy city of Cologne the 19th day of September , the twelvemonth of our said Lord God a thousand four hundred sixty and eleven , etc . " It was to be a natural endowment for Duke Charles ’s new wife , Margaret , upon her entry into the English court . The original mitt - written copy was produce as part of a long tradition of currying royal favor . Sotheby ’s , where a first printed edition was up for auction bridge , writes that " It is unbelievable that Caxton in the beginning intend his translation for print . He credibly first encountered the publish press when he move to Cologne in 1471 and it was almost certainly at that point that he began to regard guarantee a radically new commercial speculation : printing in English . "
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The young tradition of the print press , at the fourth dimension just 30 years old , favor Latin works over any particular vernacular for their ability to retrieve a grocery store across Europe . Caxton , however , was confident that the cultural hoard of the Burgundian court would inspire literate English nobles to embraceThe Recuyell of the Histories of Troye .
Although the date of his translation is carefully register in the prologue , the context of that first printing is more difficult to find out . Historians have placed it sometime between 1473 and 1475 at a workshop in Bruges .
Sotheby ’s copy , one of just 18 surviving from that first printing , features annotation in the Good Book ’s margins written by multiple centuries deserving of proofreader . It is the first copy to appear for auction in over ten years . Having last been purchased in 1948 for 15,000 GBP , or $ 25,727 , it sell earlier today for a record 1,082,500 GBP ( $ 1,823,363 ) .
