Imagine a world where every book had to be copied by hand. Each page would take hours to finish. A single book might take a year to complete. That was life before the printing press. In the 1470s, a man named William Caxton set up the first printing press in England. He had learned the technique from printers in Belgium. The machine used carved wooden blocks covered in ink. When pressed onto paper, the blocks left behind readable text. In 1478, Caxton printed one of his most famous books: The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories told by travelers on a journey to Canterbury, a city in England. The characters include a knight, a cook, a nun, and many others. Each tells a different tale, some funny and some serious. Before Caxton, only a few wealthy people could afford handwritten books. Printing made books cheaper and faster to produce. For the first time, ordinary people could buy and read stories. Caxton printed about one hundred different books in his lifetime. His work helped spread literacy across England and changed how people shared ideas forever.