Le morte darthur we owe this our english epic of le morte darthur to sir thomas malory and to william caxton the first english printer caxtons preface shows what indeed would have been certain from his appeal to the knights of england at the end of the order of chivalry that however strongly he william caxton simple person may have been urged to undertake the work by divers gentlemen of this realm of england he was not less moved by his own love and reverence for the noble acts of chi