Overview
Letters received by bookseller Thomas Cadell and the successor firm of Cadell & Davies.
Dates
- Creation: 1766-1825
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
.5 linear feet (1 box)The bulk of these letters are addressed to Thomas Cadell the Elder from 1766 to 1795. Twenty-two letters are addressed to the successor firm of Cadell & Davies, with many of them extending an earlier correspondence with Hannah More.
Among the most significant letters are twelve from author Hannah More on a variety of topics, items (28) to (30); six from Hester Lynch Piozzi concerning her Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson, item (34); and one from economist Adam Smith concerning his Wealth of Nations, item (39).
Biographical / Historical
Thomas Cadell (1742-1802) entered the London book trade in 1758 as an apprentice to Andrew Millar (1705-1768). He entered in partnership with Millar in 1765, and became the sole proprietor in 1767. He was perhaps the leading bookseller in London until his retirement in 1793. He was succeeded by the firm of Cadell & Davies, consisting of his son Thomas Cadell (1773-1836) and William Davies (d. 1820). Cadell Jr. acted as sole proprietor after the death of Davies, and the firm came to a conclusion with his own death in 1836.
See the introduction to Theodore Besterman's The Publishing Firm of Cadell & Davies: Select Correspondence and Accounts, 1793-1836 (London: Oxford University, 1938).
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Physical Location
b
Provenance:
These papers arrived as a bequest from Mary Hyde Eccles in 2004. She had acquired them from a variety of sources. Most had been purchased by her from Sotheby's in 1950 as part of a set of Boswell's Life of Johnson extra-illustrated by A.B. Burney. They were removed from the Burney volumes in 1953, but are still mounted. A few other items were acquired as part of extra-illustrated sets from R.B. Adam. Most of the Hannah More letters were purchased from Emily Driscoll in 1964.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2003JM-58 (part) and2003JM-59 (6 items). Bequest of Mary Hyde Eccles, Four Oaks Farm, Somerville, New Jersey; received: 2004.
Processing Information
Processed by: Rick Stattler
- Title
- Cadell, T. (Thomas), 1742-1802, recipient. T. Cadell letters from others, 1766-1825: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou00249
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
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