The company was founded in 1902 by William Gindra and Edward Green, two
Pretoria businessmen who started a small
stationery and general printing factory in Pretorius Street and named it after early English printer
William Caxton. In 1947, Dr HJ van der Bijl became chairman of the board; he was the driving force behind the company going public the same year, as Caxton
Ltd. In 1961, Caxton was purchased by Eagle Press and at the same time acquired its first newspaper, the
South African Jewish Times. During the same year Caxton moved its operations to
Doornfontein in
Johannesburg. In 1968, Caxton again changed ownership, this time to Felstar Publications. During the same year,
The Germiston Eagle was introduced as a weekly supplement to the
South African Jewish Times. This was the forerunner of all community newspapers in South Africa. By 1978, Caxton were publishing the following newspapers either fortnightly, monthly or weekly:
Sandton Chronicle,
North Eastern Tribune,
Northcliff and Blackheath Times,
Randburg Sun,
Southern Courier,
Mayfair-Brixton,
Newlands-Melville Telegraph,
Rosebank Killarney Gazette and
Roodepoort Record. In 1985, Caxton acquired CTP (Cape and Transvaal Printers), a R100-million printing company. This enabled Caxton to meet the growing demand for the high-speed, high-quality printing of newspapers and magazines. Caxton/CTP (as the company became popularly known) later consolidated their various subsidiary companies under the CTP banner and, post-1994, formed a partnership with the
National Empowerment Consortium (NEC). In 1985, Caxton was sued for
defamation by the cosmetics businesswoman, Reeva Forman over an article published in their magazine,
Style. The article written by
Lin Sampson, titled "Question: How Did Reeva Forman Get To Be So Successful? Answer: She Believes In God, Self-Promotion (and a couple of other little things)." was published on 25 June 1985. On the day the article was published, Forman went to the
Witwatersrand Local Division Court seeking an order to interdict further distribution of the article. Forman was granted a
rule nisi. Caxton and another publisher,
Perskor, merged in July 1998, forming a company with a turnover in excess of
ZAR R2
billion a year. As a result of the merger
The Citizen, a daily newspaper, was also acquired.
Magazines Caxton/CTP's magazine division publishes fifteen titles in the following sectors: family magazines, women's magazines, home, lifestyle and decor, lifestyle and entertainment, religion and farming. Of them,
Bona,
Country Life,
Essentials,
Food & Home,
Garden & Home,
People,
Rooi Rose,
Vrouekeur,
Woman & Home and
Your Family were all closed by the company in May 2020. ==Newspapers==