Thomas Ballard
Thomas Ballard, bookseller, publisher, and auctioneer; at the Ring in Little Britain; the Rising Sun in Little Britain.
A Dictionary of the Printers and Booksellers who were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1668 to 1725, by Henry Plomer (1922)
BALLARD (THOMAS), bookseller and book auctioneer in London, (i) Ring in Little Britain; (2) Rising Sun in Little Britain. 1698–1725. Believed to have been the first of an eminent firm of booksellers. He is first found associated with and sharing the premises of G. Conyers at the Ring in Little Britain in 1698, and his first advertised publication was Youth's Safety, or Advice to the Younger Sort. [T.C. III. 81.] In 1700 he moved to the "Rising Sun", and Dunton [p. 222] briefly notices him as "a young bookseller in Little Britain; but is grown man in body now but more in mind". Soon after this he appears to have added to his business as a bookseller that of a book auctioneer. In the Daily Courant of January 2nd, 1711, he advertised for sale the libraries of Sir Thomas Browne and his son Dr. Edward Browne. Amongst other collections dispersed by him were that of Dr. William Salmon, 1713–14, and the smaller library of Dr. Charles Oliphant, 1720. In March 1720/21 he issued a catalogue of miscellaneous books. He was succeeded in business by Edward Ballard.
Notes & Queries "London Booksellers Series" (1931–2)
BALLARD, T. He was in business at the Rising Sun in Little Britain in 1700. He may possibly have been related to Samuel Ballard noticed above, but Nichols is careful to distinguish the two, and says nothing of any relationship. He does remark, however, that T. Ballard was notable as the first London bookseller to issue a complete printed catalogue of his books, with the price of each clearly marked. (‘Anecdotes,' i. 422; iii. 615, 625; v. 489).
—Frederick T. Wood, 18 July 1931