Le Recueil des Histoires de Troie de Raoul Lefèvre : l’impact de l’édition de Caxton sur la production de manuscrits

Résumé 0

William Caxton, England’s first printer, lived on the Continent until 1476. His first English editions were printed in the Low Countries, nearby the Burgundian court. As a far-sighted merchant, the printer had chosen and adapted a fashionable courtly text to launch his business. In 1473-1474, the Recueil des Histoires de Troyes – translated by Caxton – became the first book printed in English. The book market in Bruges was a crucial factor in Caxton’s decision to set his workshop in the Low Countries. As any innovation, his printing press was successful, not because it created the demand, but because it met an already existing demand for cheaper books. The city’s scribes did not only produce luxury manuscripts but also common copies for less fortunate readers. Caxton’s subsequent edition of the original French text enlarged rather than established the audience. In the late fifteen century, four editions in French and a translation in Dutch, as well as four manuscripts, were based on Caxton’s edition of the Recueil. Copies of Caxton’s edition illustrate the kinship manuscripts and incunabula. Far from being rivals or even parallels means of distribution, printing and hand-copying were thus mutually stimulating processes.