Publications of Thomas Cadell the elder

Note: The following printer, bookseller, or publisher lists are works in progress. They are generated from title page imprints and may reproduce false and misleading attributions or contain errors.

What does "printed by" mean? How to read the roles ascribed to people in the imprints.

In terms of the book trades, the lists below are sorted into up to four groups where: the person is designated in the imprint as having a single role:

  1. "printed by x"; or
  2. "sold by x"; or
  3. "printed for x" or "published by x";

or as having multiple roles in combination (which suggests a likelihood that the person is a trade publisher):

  1. "printed and sold by x"; "printed for and sold by x"; or "printed by and for x" and so on.

Printers (owners of the type and printing presses, and possibly owners of the copyright) may be identified by the words printed by, but printed by does not universally designate a person who is a printer by trade. Booksellers may be identified by the words sold by, but sold by encompasses a number of roles. Booksellers or individuals who owned the copyright are generally identified by the words printed for, but nothing should be concluded in this regard without further evidence, especially since "printed for" could signify that the named person was a distributor rather than a copyright holder. Trade publishers, who distributed books and pamphlets but did not own the copyright or employ a printer—and were not printers themselves—might be identified by the words printed and sold by. Furthermore, works from this period often display false imprints, whether to evade copyright restrictions, to conceal the name of the copyright holders, or to dupe unwitting customers. Ultimately, one must proceed with caution in using the following lists: designations in the imprints may not reliably reflect the actual trades or roles of the people named, and the formulas used in imprints do not consistently mean the same thing.

David Foxon discussed the "meaning of the imprint" in his Lyell Lecture delivered at Oxford in March 1976, with particular attention to "publishers" in the eighteenth-century context:

The fullest form of an imprint is one which names three people, or groups of people:
     London: printed by X (the printer), for Y (the bookseller who owned the copyright), and sold by Z.
In the eighteenth century the printer's name is rarely given, at least in works printed in London, and the form is more commonly:
     London: printed for Y, and sold by Z.
Very often in this period, and particularly for pamphlets, it is further abbreviated to:
     London: printed and sold by Z.
It is this last form which is my present concern. Z is usually what the eighteenth century called 'a publisher', or one who distributes books and pamphlets without having any other responsibility—he does not own the copyright or employ a printer, or even know the author.

D. F. McKenzie coined the term "trade publisher" for these publishers in his Sandars Lectures, also in 1976, on the grounds that their principal role was to publish on behalf of other members of the book trade (Treadwell 100).

Michael Treadwell cautions that "In this period the imprint 'London: Printed and sold by A.B.' normally means 'Printed at London, and sold by A.B.' and must not be taken to mean that A.B. is a printer in the absence of other evidence." Further, "The imprint 'published by' occurs only rarely in Wing and is almost always associated with the name of a trade publisher" (104). While there are exceptions to the rule, it is "certain," he explains, "that anyone who made a speciality of distributing works for others will show a far higher proportion than normal of imprints in one of the 'sold by' forms" (116), which appear in the imprint as "sold by," "printed and sold by," or "published by" (104). Treadwell gives Walter Kettilby as an example of "a fairly typical copyright-owning bookseller" (106)—his role is almost always designated by the phrase "printed for" on imprints.

A final caution: publisher is a word that should be used with some deliberation. Samuel Johnson defines it simply as "One who puts out a book into the world," but "published by" rarely appears on the imprint until later in the eighteenth century, and then primarily associated with newspapers and pamphlets. Treadwell observes that John Dunton names only five publishers among the 200 binders and booksellers in his autobiographical Life and Errors (1705) wherein he undertakes "to draw the Character of the most Eminent [Stationers] in the Three Kingdoms" (100). Treadwell also remarks, however, that "in law, anyone who offered a work for sale 'published' it. In this sense every work had one or more 'publishers', and every bookseller, mercury, and hawker was a 'publisher'" (114).

See:

  • Terry Belanger, "From Bookseller to Publisher: Changes in the London Book Trade, 1750–1850," in Book Selling and Book Buying. Aspects of the Nineteenth-Century British and North American Book Trade, ed. Richard G. Landon (Chicago: American Library Association, 1978).
  • Bricker, Andrew Benjamin. "Who was 'A. Moore'? The Attribution of Eighteenth-Century Publications with False and Misleading Imprints," in The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 110.2 (2016).
  • John Dunton, The Life and Errors of John Dunton (London: Printed for S. Malthus, 1705).
  • John Feather, "The Commerce of Letters: The Study of the Eighteenth-Century Book Trade," Eighteenth-Century Studies 17 (1984).
  • David Foxon, Pope and the Early Eighteenth-Century Book Trade, ed. James McLaverty (Oxford University Press, 1991).
  • Samuel Johnson, Dictionary of the English Language, (printed for J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar; and R. and J. Dodsley, 1755).
  • D.F. McKenzie, The London Book Trade in the Later Seventeenth Century (Sandars lectures in bibliography, 1977).
  • Michael Treadwell, "London Trade Publishers 1675–1750," The Library sixth series, vol. 4, no. 2 (1982).

Printed by Thomas Cadell the elder

  • Baretti, Giuseppe Marco Antonio. A guide through the Royal Academy, by Joseph Baretti Secretary for Foreign Correspondence to the Royal Academy. London: printed by T. Cadell, Printer to the Royal Academy, [1781]. ESTC No. T83915. Grub Street ID 304329.
  • West, Benjamin. A discourse, delivered to the students of the Royal Academy, on the distribution of the prizes, December 10, 1792, by the president. ... To which is prefixed the speech of the president to the Royal Academicians on the 24th of March 1792. London: printed by Thomas Cadell, 1793. ESTC No. T10652. Grub Street ID 159671.

Sold by Thomas Cadell the elder

  • Tullius Cicero, Marcus. The principal orations of Cicero translated: with notes; and a sketch of the life of Cicero. In two volumes. By John Rutherford, Esq. ... [London]: Printed at a private press: and sold by T. Cadell, 1778. ESTC No. N20813. Grub Street ID 10190.
  • Bromley, Robert Anthony. A philosophical and critical history of the fine arts, painting, sculpture, and architecture: with occasional observations on the progress of engraving, in it’s several branches, deduced from the earliest records, through every country in which those arts have been cherished, to their present establishment in Great-Britain, under the auspices of His Majesty King George III. In four parts. By the Rev. Robert Anthony Bromley, B.D. Rector of St. Mildred’s in the Poultry, and Minister of Fitzroy-Chapel, London. London : printed at the Philanthropic-Press, St. George’s Fields, for the author; and sold by T. Cadell, in the Strand; J. Robson; and Hookham & Co. in Bond-Street; and C. Dilly, in the Poultry, MDCCXCIII. [1793]. ESTC No. T105154. Grub Street ID 158520.

Printed for Thomas Cadell the elder

  • The grave, the house appointed for all living. A sermon on Job xxx. - --23. preach'd at the funeral of Mr. James Blunt, of Frome on Thursday the 19th of August, 1749. By John Bowden. Bristol: printed for Thomas Cadell. Bookseller, in Wine Street; and sold by W. Frederick, Bookseller at Bath, [1749]. ESTC No. N864. Grub Street ID 53543.
  • , Gentleman at the wells. The Bristol-wells a poem. For the year 1749. By a gentleman at the wells. Bristol: printed for Thomas Cadell; and sold by W. Frederick, at Bath, 1749. ESTC No. N62529. Grub Street ID 44864.
  • Griffith, Joshua. The christian teacher characteriz'd, in a charge delivered at the ordination of the Reverend Mr. William George, at Devizes, Aug. 15, 1750. With an address to the people at the close. By Joshua Griffith.... Bristol: printed for T. Cadell. And sold by M. Cooper, London; and by W. Frederick, in Bath, [1750]. ESTC No. T11761. Grub Street ID 169195.
  • Baron, Richard. The pillars of priestcraft and orthodoxy shaken. In four volumes. Vol. I. London: printed for Mr. Cadell, in the Strand; Mr. Kearsley, in Ludgate-Street; Mr. Payne and Mr. Johnson, in Pater-Noster-Row; and Mr. Young, under the Royal Exchange, MDCCLXVIII. [1768]. ESTC No. T90319. Grub Street ID 310175.
  • Hume, David. Essays and treatises on several subjects. In two volumes. By David Hume, Esq; ... London: printed for T. Cadell: and A. Kincaid, and A. Donaldson, at Edinburgh, 1772. ESTC No. N9443. Grub Street ID 54313.
  • Grant, William. Observations on the nature and cure of fevers. By William Grant, M.D. The second edition. In two volumes. Vol. I. London: printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, M.DCC.LXXII. [1772]. ESTC No. N10032. Grub Street ID 42.
  • Chandler, George, surgeon. A treatise of a cataract, its nature, species, causes and symptoms, With A Distinct Representation of the operations by couching and extraction: and Mr. Daviel's comparative view of their respective merits ; together with Some Hints concerning Means for preventing its Formation, and superseding the Necessity of either Operation; Extracted from the best Authors. With copper plates. By George Chandler, Surgeon. London: printed by Samuel Chandler, for T. Cadell, in the Strand, and Brotherton and Sewell, in Cornhill, M.DCC.LXXV. [1775]. ESTC No. T126100. Grub Street ID 176134.
  • Kames, Henry Home. Introduction to the art of thinking. London: printed for T. Cadell; and W. Creech, Edinburgh, 1775. ESTC No. N17016. Grub Street ID 6518.
  • Francklin, Thomas. Matilda: a tragedy. As it is performed at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. By the author of The Earl of Warwick. London: printed for T. Cadell., opposite Catherine-Street, in the Strand, 1775. ESTC No. T39044. Grub Street ID 268407.
  • St. John, Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke. A dissertation upon parties: in several letters to Caleb D'Anvers, Esq; written by the Right Honourable Henry St. John, late Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. To which is prefixed, the life of the author, by Dr. Goldsmith. London: printed for T. Davies, in Russel-Street, Covent-Garden; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, MDCCLXXV. [1775]. ESTC No. T9605. Grub Street ID 315534.
  • Price, Richard. Observations on the nature of civil liberty, the principles of government, and the justice and policy of the war with America. To which is added, an appendix, containing, a state of the national debt, An Estimate of the Money drawn from the Public by the Taxes, and An Account of the National Income and Expenditure since the last War. By Richard Price, D.D. F.R.S. London: printed [for T. Cadell] in the year, M.DCC.LXXVI. [1776]. ESTC No. N41501. Grub Street ID 27850.
  • Raynal, Abbé. A philosophical and political history of the settlements and trade of the Europeans in the East and West Indies. Translated from the French by J. Justamond, M.A. To which is added, a set of proper maps. London: printed for T. Cadell. And J. Balfour, and C. Elliot, Edinburgh, 1777. ESTC No. N39182. Grub Street ID 26644.
  • Lowth, Robert. Isaiah. A new translation; with a preliminary dissertation, and notes critical, philological, and explanatory. By Robert Lowth, D. D. F. R. SS. Lond. And Goetting. Lord Bishop of London. London: printed by J. Nichols; for J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, and T. Cadell in the Strand, MDCCLXXVIII. [1778]. ESTC No. T144005. Grub Street ID 359293.
  • Bell, Benjamin. A treatise on the theory and management of ulcers: with a dissertation on white swellings of the joints. to which is prefixed, an essay on the Chirurgical treatment of inflammation and its Consequences. By Benjamin Bell, Member of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, and one of the Surgeons to the Royal Infirmary of that City. Edinburgh: printed [by Macfarquhar and Elliot] for Thomas Cadell, London; and Charles Elliot, Edinburgh, M,DCC,LXXIX. [1779]. ESTC No. N14040. Grub Street ID 3948.
  • Warton, Thomas. The life of Sir Thomas Pope, founder of Trinity College Oxford. Chiefly compiled from original evidences. With an appendix of papers, never before printed. The second edition, corrected and enlarged. By Thomas Warton, B. D. fellow of Trinity College, and F.S.A. London: printed for Thomas Cadell in the Strand, MDCCLXXX. [1780]. ESTC No. T145600. Grub Street ID 192335.
  • Pratt, Mr.. Sympathy, a poem. Written by Mr. Pratt, ... London: printed for T Cadell, 1782. ESTC No. T51031. Grub Street ID 278558.
  • St. John, Henry, Viscount Bolingbroke. A dissertation upon parties: in several letters to Caleb D'Anvers, ... written by the Right Honourable Henry St. John, late Lord Viscount Bolingbroke. To which is prefixed, The life of the author, by Dr. Goldsmith. London: printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, MDCCLXXXVI. [1786]. ESTC No. T146897. Grub Street ID 193491.