The Chicago Manual of Style started life as a printing office's rulebook. In November 1906 the University of Chicago Press published its Manual of Style, setting down the typographical rules its compositors and proofreaders already followed (University of Chicago Press, 1906). The 18th edition, of September 2024, runs to 1,192 pages (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-c).
EdCitation publishes this history of the Chicago Manual of Style, built from the press's own pages and blog, digitised copies of six early editions, the 1949 and 1982 editions, and library records, all read on 24 September 2026. The 1969 edition could not be read, and the gap is marked below.
EdCitation's Cite a source builds Chicago in the 18th edition's author-date form only, never notes and bibliography. Chicago's notes have their own story in who invented the footnote.
When was the first Chicago Manual of Style published?
In November 1906, as Manual of Style: Being a Compilation of the Typographical Rules in Force at the University of Chicago Press, to Which Are Appended Specimens of Types in Use, with a preface dated 15 August 1906 (University of Chicago Press, 1906). "Chicago" joined the title only in 1982. The press offers a facsimile to download.
From a proofreader's sheet to a book
The press opened in 1891 with its own composing room, where professors brought handwritten manuscripts and proofreaders nicknamed the "brainery" checked the proofs; a style sheet drawn up there was passed round the university. The 1906 book sold for 50 cents, plus 6 cents postage (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a).
The 1949 edition's preface adds what the press's current history leaves out: a printed Style Book: Adopted and in Use for University Publications, dated 16 February 1901, and the first edition's author, Louis Warming of Denver, then assistant to the General Editor (University of Chicago Press, 1949).
What the 1906 rules said about citing
Very little. Of 275 numbered rules, seven (214 to 220) covered footnotes. Reference marks were superior figures, set after the punctuation. Ibid. replaced a title repeated in consecutive notes, except in the first note on a left-hand page, where the title, loc. cit. or op. cit. was better. A journal's year went in parentheses after its volume number.
Journals such as the Botanical Gazette and the Astrophysical Journal kept forms of their own, with the year at the end, and the preface gave the reason: in literary references the sciences had usages "which it would not be advisable to ignore". The preface also warned that such rules could not have "the fixity of rock-ribbed law", a paragraph the 13th edition reprinted 76 years later (University of Chicago Press, 1982).
What changed in each edition of the Chicago Manual of Style?
Something a reader could see in almost every one. The first seven dates come from the 1920 edition's imprint page, the 8th to 11th from the 1949 edition's copyright line.
| Edition | Published | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | November 1906 | 275 rules, seven on footnotes, and specimens of type |
| 2nd | March 1910 | Spaces inside "U. S." and "i. e." dropped; semicolons outside quotation marks |
| 3rd to 6th | 1911 to 1919 | Title becomes A Manual of Style in the 5th, 1917 |
| 7th | November 1920 | German a.a.O. beside loc. cit. and op. cit. |
| 8th | 1925 | An en space between sentences, where 1906 had an em space |
| 9th and 10th | 1927, 1937 | Kate Turabian's first pamphlet followed the 10th |
| 11th | 1949 (1965 printing read) | No extra space between sentences; a scientific book may use its field's form |
| 12th | 1969 | Rearranged and expanded by Catharine Seybold and Bruce Young; ships' names italic |
| 13th | 1982 | Renamed The Chicago Manual of Style; author-date recommended; the 1978 copyright law; personal computers |
| 14th | 1993 | 936 pages; nearly half a million copies sold |
| 15th | 2003 | The first advisory board; online edition from 2006 |
| 16th | 2010 | First produced from XML; print and web together; citation revamped |
| 17th | 2017 | 1,146 pages; ibid. discouraged; social media and apps |
| 18th | 2024 | 1,192 pages; citation chapters reorganised; no place of publication |
The early rows come from the editions (University of Chicago Press, 1906, 1920, 1949), the press's blog (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and its Turabian history (n.d.-d), the 12th to 16th from its history of the Manual (n.d.-a), the last two from the section below. The 6th edition was not read, so a change first seen in the 7th may be older.
The 12th edition's first printing of 20,000 sold out before publication (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a); by 2024 the press counted more than 1.75 million copies of the Manual (n.d.-c).
Where the sources disagree
On the first edition's length: the press's history says 200 pages (n.d.-a), the university's magazine 202 (Allen, 2017), and a library record for a digitised copy ix and 201 (University of Chicago Press, 1906).
When did author-date citation enter the Chicago Manual?
As a system the press recommended, in the 13th edition of 1982 at the latest; as an allowance for scientific journals and books, decades earlier. The 1969 edition in between could not be read.
A scientific exception, 1906 to 1949
The 1906 exceptions still put the year at the end. The 1949 edition, read in a 1965 printing whose examples run to 1954, goes further: its rule 264 lets a book of "a purely scientific nature" use its field's form, shown as "Burns, J. H. 1936.", and its notes section shows journals in astrophysics, geology and zoology listing references at the end, year after the names (University of Chicago Press, 1949). That is an author-date reference list in all but name, kept as an exception.
A system of its own, 1982
The 13th edition opened its chapter "Documentation: References, Notes, and Bibliographies" with author-date, "the most practical" method, long used by biologists and physical scientists and gaining ground in the social sciences and humanities. The press "strongly recommends" it for its books in the natural sciences and most in the social sciences (University of Chicago Press, 1982).
The form was surname and year with no punctuation between them, as in (Smith 1978), and a page after a comma, as in (Piaget 1980, 74). The 18th edition's samples keep that pattern, as in (Yu 2020, 45) (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-b). The system is older than the chapter, as our history of where Harvard referencing came from shows.
What could not be confirmed
Whether the 12th edition of 1969 already set out author-date as a system. The 1982 preface says only that its citation chapters were "reorganized and greatly expanded". Pollak (2006) wrote on a century of the Manual's citations, behind a paywall and a bot check; its abstract names no edition for the change.
Who was Kate L. Turabian, and where did Turabian come from?
Kate L. Turabian (1893–1987) was the University of Chicago's graduate school dissertation secretary from 1930 to 1958, and her Manual for Writers grew from a pamphlet she wrote in that office in 1937 (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-d).
A dissertation secretary's pamphlet
Raised on Chicago's South Side, she was kept from college by illness, worked as a typist, and joined the university as a departmental secretary. In 1930 she became its dissertation secretary, a new post through which every accepted doctoral thesis passed, and she also edited the university's official publications.
Her 1937 pamphlet set out the style required of dissertations, following the Manual's tenth edition. A library record gives its title as A Manual for Writers of Dissertations, 61 pages (Turabian, 1937). The press began distributing it in 1947 and published it as a book in 1955, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. She died in 1987, aged 94, months after the fifth edition appeared.
The editions since
From the fifth edition, the press's editors have revised it to match the Manual's citation forms. The seventh added a section on research and writing by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb and Joseph M. Williams, authors of The Craft of Research (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-d). The ninth, of April 2018, revised by Joseph Bizup and William T. FitzGerald, is aligned with the Manual's 17th edition (Turabian, 2018). A tenth is listed for November 2026, revised by Bizup, FitzGerald and Juli Parrish, updated to the current Manual and covering generative AI; the press puts the book's sales at nearly 10 million copies (Turabian, 2026).
Until then, Turabian follows the 17th, so a course that names Turabian and one that names Chicago 18 can differ where the 18th changed, as on the place of publication. EdCitation's free Check your paper reads a brief into a checklist that includes the citation style. Layout is in Chicago and Turabian student paper format.
What did the 17th and 18th editions change?
The 17th was mostly additions; the 18th, the press's most extensive revision in a generation (n.d.-a), reorganised the citation chapters.
The 17th edition, 2017
It ran to 1,146 pages, with a first printing of 75,000, and 1.5 million copies of the Manual had been sold (Allen, 2017). It added coverage of self-publishing, citation management software and gender-neutral pronouns (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-a).
One citation change closed a circle: the 1906 book prescribed ibid.; the 17th discouraged it in favour of shortened citations, because in electronic formats that link to one note at a time it can confuse the reader, though it did not ban it (University of Chicago Press, 2017). Pollak's abstract had already seen loc. cit. and op. cit. give way while ibid. survived (Pollak, 2006).
The 18th edition, 2024
It went online on 15 August 2024 and into print that September (University of Chicago Press, 2024b). The 17th had one citation chapter per system, notes and bibliography in 14 and author-date in 15 (University of Chicago Press, 2017); the 18th has an overview in 13 and examples in 14 (n.d.-e). Its April announcement said books would no longer need a place of publication and generic singular they would be acceptable (University of Chicago Press, 2024a), and it covers citing AI-generated content and Indigenous sources (n.d.-e). Everything it retired is in retired citation rules you can stop following, and today's rules in our Chicago author-date referencing guide.
How do I cite the Chicago Manual of Style or Turabian in author-date?
From the publisher's record, then check the author. These entries were built on 24 September 2026 with EdCitation's Cite a source, in Chicago 18 author-date, and are quoted as they came back.
- Take the edition from the title page of the copy you used.
- Give its DOI or ISBN to Cite a source, free and with no account: 10.7208/cmos18 for the 18th edition, 9780226430577 for Turabian's ninth.
- Read the author element first, and correct it if the record misled it.
- Check the finished list in Verify references.
The Manual, from its DOI
The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff. 2024. The Chicago Manual of Style. 18th ed. University of Chicago Press. https://doi.org/10.7208/cmos18.
The publisher's Crossref record files "The" as if it were a first name. Cite a source joins it back to the body's name, since Chicago's samples give an organisation under its own name, as in "Google. 2023." (University of Chicago Press, n.d.-b), and never inverted like a person's.
In the text: (The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff 2024).
Turabian, from its ISBN
Turabian, Kate L. 2018. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers. 9th ed. University of Chicago Press.
That entry stands. In the text: (Turabian 2018).
Which EdCitation tools help with Chicago style?
Cite a source is the best tool for a Chicago author-date reference, and the first edition shows why. Its "Hints to Proofreaders" asked proofreaders to read as if their "reputation and fortune depended upon its accuracy", with special care for names and figures (University of Chicago Press, 1906). EdCitation's Cite a source takes names, years and numbers from the publisher's record rather than writing them, which no chatbot composing references from patterns can do. From a DOI, a title, a PubMed ID, an ISBN or a web address it builds Chicago 18 author-date and five other styles, screens the source for retraction, and costs nothing, with no account.
Verify references, also free, verified all five entries we gave it, from the 1906 Manual to the 18th edition, the two oldest against a library catalogue, where a book missing from the publishers' index is checked. Each entry comes back verified, "check this" or not found, retractions are flagged, and one that could not be checked is labelled so, never as not found. Read a suggested correction before accepting it: the one for the 18th edition kept ", The", and the one for Turabian's ninth listed its revisers as authors, as the publisher's record does.
Find sources searches about 300 million published works, by topic or by the claim a sentence needs. "Chicago Manual of Style", most cited first, returned 5,788 records, led by a 1984 review of the 13th edition, with Pollak's essay and a 2018 article in The Indexer on the Manual's index chapter across editions.
EdCitation's Library holds the books. "Manual of style" by the University of Chicago Press, oldest first, returned 36 records: some dated 1906, 1911 and 1914 open to read with Max, and a 1969 and a 1982 edition are ones to borrow. Turabian's "manual for writers" returned 27, the oldest a 1937 record for the pamphlet, and a record of the 1955 book is one to borrow. A record can carry a later printing, so check the title page. Searching and My Books need a free account; reading and borrowing come with Max, $24 a month or $216 a year (pricing). EdCitation never writes any part of a paper.
Quick questions
When was the first edition of the Chicago Manual of Style published?
In November 1906, as the University of Chicago Press's Manual of Style. It cost 50 cents, plus 6 cents postage.
Why is it called the Chicago Manual of Style?
Because readers already called it that. The 13th edition of 1982 took the name, its preface said, to "call it what everybody else calls it".
When did Chicago adopt author-date citation?
The 13th edition of 1982 recommends it for the natural sciences and most social sciences; earlier editions let scientific journals and books keep their own forms. Whether the 12th edition of 1969 set it out as a system is unconfirmed.
Who was Kate Turabian?
The University of Chicago's dissertation secretary from 1930 to 1958, whose 1937 pamphlet became A Manual for Writers, a book from 1955.
Does EdCitation make Chicago footnotes?
No. EdCitation's Cite a source builds Chicago 18 author-date references, free and without an account, and no notes-and-bibliography entries.
References
- Allen, S. (2017). Chicago style icons. The University of Chicago Magazine. https://mag.uchicago.edu/arts-humanities/chicago-style-icons
- Pollak, O. B. (2006). The decline and fall of bottom notes, op. cit., loc. cit., and a century of the Chicago Manual of Style. Journal of Scholarly Publishing, 38(1), 14–30. https://doi.org/10.3138/jsp.38.1.14
- Turabian, K. L. (1937). A manual for writers of dissertations [Catalogue record]. University of Chicago Bookstore. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6352770M
- Turabian, K. L. (2018). A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: Chicago style for students and researchers (9th ed.). University of Chicago Press. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo27847540.html
- Turabian, K. L. (2026). A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations: "The Chicago Manual of Style" for student researchers (10th ed.). University of Chicago Press. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo271878438.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-a). About The Chicago Manual of Style. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/about.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-b). Author-date: Sample citations. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-2.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-c). The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition [Book page]. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo213648716.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-d). History of Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/turabian/about/history.html
- University of Chicago Press. (n.d.-e). What's new in the 18th edition. The Chicago Manual of Style Online. https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/help-tools/what-s-new.html
- University of Chicago Press. (1906). Manual of style: Being a compilation of the typographical rules in force at the University of Chicago Press, to which are appended specimens of types in use. https://archive.org/details/manualofstylebei00univrich
- University of Chicago Press. (1920). A manual of style: A compilation of typographical rules governing the publications of the University of Chicago (7th ed.). https://archive.org/details/manualofstylecon00univiala
- University of Chicago Press. (1949). A manual of style (11th ed.; 10th impression, 1965) [Catalogue record]. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL14366711M
- University of Chicago Press. (1982). The Chicago manual of style: For authors, editors, and copywriters (13th ed.) [Catalogue record]. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3483398M
- University of Chicago Press. (2017, May 4). What's new in the CMOS 17 citation chapters. CMOS Shop Talk. https://cmosshoptalk.com/2017/05/04/whats-new-in-the-cmos-17-citation-chapters/
- University of Chicago Press. (2023, June 20). Chicago style then and now. CMOS Shop Talk. https://cmosshoptalk.com/2023/06/20/chicago-style-then-and-now/
- University of Chicago Press. (2024a, April 16). Announcing The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition. CMOS Shop Talk. https://cmosshoptalk.com/2024/04/16/announcing-the-chicago-manual-of-style-18th-edition/
- University of Chicago Press. (2024b, August 15). CMOS 18 is now online. CMOS Shop Talk. https://cmosshoptalk.com/2024/08/15/cmos-18-is-now-online/