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Richard Pynson (1448-1529) was one of the first printers of English books. The 500 books he printed were influential in the standardisation of the English language. Pynson, whose books make him technically and typographically the outstanding English printer of his generation, is credited with introducing Roman type to English printing.

Pynson was born in 1448 in Normandy and may have been a glover and/or a pouchmaker before he turned to printing It is possible that he is identical with one Richard Pynson who was enrolled as a student in Paris in 1464.

He is also mentioned as being a bookbinder, although he probably did not bind the books himself. It has been suggested that Pynson at one time worked as an assistant to William Caxton whom he called "my worshipful master" in the introduction to his Canterbury Tales, 1492 but this is now considered highly unlikely.

Pynson began his printing career as early as 1492, the year in which he printed Alexander Grammaticus's Doctrinale, his first dated book. He had probably learned his trade from Guillaume de Talleur, a printer in Rouen, whom he charged with printing at least two books in the early 1490s. It is likely that he took over William de Machlinia's premises after de Machlinia's death; it is also possible that Julian Notary in turn took over Pynson's vacated place in 1501.

During the first years, he worked in St Clement Danes just outside Temple Bar, but he moved inside Temple Bar in 1501, possibly because of xenophobic riots[10] but perhaps simply " to be closer to the book trade, most of the leading men having their shops in the neighbourhood of St Paul's Cathedral."

Pynson became King's Printer to Henry VII (and subsequently to Henry VIII) in 1506, an office that carried not only great prestige but also an annuary of two pounds, later raised to four pounds. Since this was a prestigious lifetime position, it is not surprising that he was naturalized in 1513.

The output of Pynson's press was varied but limited in scope. He was recognized as an expert at printing law texts (e.g., statutes of the King) and also printed many books of a religious nature like Books of Hours or Missals. He is noted for being one of the first English printers to print a classical text several plays of the Roman poet Terence and he was the first publisher of the famous Wayes to Jerusalem by Sir John Mandeville, a book that has been called "an ancestor of science fiction".

Other first printings by Pynson include popular romances like Sir Tryamour and a translation of the German Narrenschiff by Sebastian Brant. Considering that he was the King’s Printer, it is not surprising that the historically most important book he ever printed the Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (1521), which netted King Henry VIII the title of "Defensor Fidei" was produced on behalf of his royal employer. Strangely enough, he never printed any travel accounts by Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, or other famous explorers, although it would have been the logical thing to do since there were many versions in several European languages at that time and neither did any other English printer of Pynson’s time print them. "The absence of a single English imprint is surprising. The same is true of works connected with the so-called 'alliterative revival', whose texts at that time no English printer touched.

Pynson's business attitude was fairly conservative; he does not seem to have been a great risk-taker but relied instead on steady-sellers. Literary patronage, still important in the early printing period, was not an important factor for his press Like the other printers of his time, he used woodcuts and initials, often of a higher quality than those of his competitors; the initials of the so-called Morton Missal of 1500 are among the finest ever to have been used in England at that time. According to Plomer, he had a large and varied stock of type.