Though he is not named in the greeting or elsewhere in the letter, the identification of Thomas Cadell as the recipient of this letter is based on internal and external evidence; Cadell, along with Andrew Strahan, was the publisher of the London edition of the fourth volume of Blair's sermons in 1794.
Removed from an extra-illustrated copy of James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (London: Printed by Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, 1791); PML 9812-9815.
Telling Cadell that the fourth volume of his Sermons had been published in Edinburgh on Tuesday; adding that William Creech has told him that a cargoload of copies is currently on its way to London: "He says he could not delay publishing here this week on account of the Season for Sale slipping away here; and this publication interferes not in the least with London. The book is very well, & I think, correctly Printed"; asking Cadell to send a copy to the Queen: "First of all, a Copy for the Queen (to whom you know my former Volumes were dedicated) must be attended to; and which you must get Elegantly bound, as soon as you can. By this post I write to Mr Secretary Dundas (my good friend) concerning it & have Committed to him the care of having it presented to the Queen"; giving the names and addresses of other individuals who should receive copies, including the Duchess of Buccleuch (Lady Elizabeth Montagu); requesting that the Bishop of London (Beilby Porteous) be sent copies of all four volumes of his sermons; asking that copies of the new volume also be sent to "M. Sack", the King of Prussia's chaplain and the translator of the other three volumes of Blair's sermons into German, and "Princess Dashkan at Petersburgh, a great friend of mine, to whom I have written to get it by the Russian ambassador"; asking about when he might be able to draw on Cadell and Strahan for the payment due on publication; writing that he was glad to hear, from James Bruce, that Bruce has taken some of Cadell's advice about his "Abyssinia": "I own my opinion which I decidedly signified to him was, that upon reasonable terms he should have made over the whole Copy Right to you; & left you to print an Edition in what way you pleased. This is the only mode of transacting between Authors & Booksellers which I understand anything off; and I am perswaded it would have been the Simplest & Best both for you & Him"; commenting that Bruce's book "has so much curious matter in it, that I cannot but think the Edition will be well received by the Publick."