Caxton Hall - 10 Caxton Street, London SW1
This was the first Annual General Meeting to be held at Caxton Hall, on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street, in Westminster.
The building had been there for some time though, and was opened as "Westminster Town Hall" in 1883, using the Great Hall and the York Hall. However, in 1900, that all changed, for as the City of Westminster grew more and more, a larger area was required.
Once it was no longer the Town Hall, it was renamed to Caxton Hall, after the printer, William Caxton, who had not only once been almoner of Westminster Abbey but had set up the first printing-press ever known in England in an unused chapel there.
As for the first book printed there, that was "The Game and Playe of the Chesse" in 1474, as seen on this card, and also as discussed in the Christmas, 1951, edition of the Cartophilic World (volume 9 no.96), which tells us that the Whitbread Inn Sign of The William Caxton in Tenterden, designed by Violet Rutter, is based on a woodcut of King Canute learning chess which appears in that very book. And as for why it is in Tenterden, well that was actually the birthplace of William Caxton.
You can read more about the set in our newsletter for the 12th of July 2025, by scrolling down to Monday, the 14th of July.