The ‘Caxton Window’

The ‘Caxton Window’

books, education, John Ashwin & Co., John Radecki, Margaret of Burgundy, Mitchell Reading Room, New South Wales, NSW, patronage, print, printing, printing press, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474), stained glass, State Library of NSW, Sydney, William Caxton (c.1422-1492), window

An image of the ‘Caxton Window’ located in the Mitchell Reading Room at the State Library of New South Wales. This stained glass window was created in a neo-medieval figurative style by John Radecki of Ashwin and Co., Sydney in 1941. It shows Englishman William Caxton presenting a copy of the Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474) to his patron Margaret of Burgundy. The Caxton theme is an effective means of commemorating a momentous achievement in the history of English literature, namely the ready dissemination of cultural values and the arts via the printed page. Caxton later set up a printing press in Westminster in 1476, initially using type that he brought over from Bruges. This didactic window is superbly executed, and the significance of books and learning is highly appropriate for a library reading room. Regrettably the window’s finer details are not easily discernible from ground level. The placement of this window in the Mitchell reading room, which houses the early Australiana collection, provides a bridge between the two continents (Europe and Australia).

Urry, David

3 November 2011

No Copyright

Digital Photograph; JPEG

Digital Photograph; JPEG