Colden's text was printed several times in various forms. Following the publication of the first edition in New York in 1745, a pirated version appeared in London 1746 under the title, An explication of the first causes of action in matter : and of the cause of gravitation. The text was published in German translation, with additional notes, in Leipzig, Hamburg, or both, in 1748. Through the efforts of the Comte de Buffon, it also appeared in French translation in Bordeaux, Paris, or both in 1751 as Explication des premierès causes de l'action dans la matière et de la gravitation, traduit de l'anglais. The final editions, heavily revised and expanded, appeared under the new title, The principles of action in matter, and the gravitation of bodies, and the motion of the planets explained from those principles in London in 1751 and again under the same title in London in 1752. Another edition was prepared, but did not appear in print because of the poor reception of earlier editions by ardent Newtonians; the manuscript remains at the University of Edinburgh. Some bibliographies mention a London edition published under the original title (and presumably without any additional material) in 1751 and then date the sole appearance of the final edition as 1752.