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Poems by Mr. Gray

Poems by Mr. Gray

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Poems by Mr. Gray

by GRAY, Thomas

  • Used
Condition
Carefully respined, edges of the binding rubbed but an excellent copy.
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia
Item Price
A$875.00
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About This Item

London: J. Dodsley, 1768. Carefully respined, edges of the binding rubbed but an excellent copy.. Octavo, with the rare half-title; contemporary ownership inscription on front flyleaf, in contemporary calf, preserved in a folding cloth case.

First edition, second issue with the contents at page 121. This is the first London edition and includes the famous 'Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard': 'a new beauty, and a music of its own' (CHEL).

The Elegy was completed in 1750 and sent in manuscript to Walpole, who circulated it freely, causing a distressed Gray to send it to Dodsley for publishing to protect himself. Despite Dodsley's best efforts to deprive the poem of syntactical sense (replace 'awake' with 'asleep' Gray poignantly advised his printer), he produced several editions including this important collection.

This is the copy of the English politician and man of letters Augustine Birrell, who famously once said "Good as it is to inherit a library, it is better to collect one". There are a few marginal notes in ink by him.

. Provenance: William Grant (ownership inscription dated 1811); Augustine Birrell (author and politician, with bookplate).

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Details

Bookseller
Hordern House Rare Books AU (AU)
Bookseller's Inventory #
2408188
Title
Poems by Mr. Gray
Author
GRAY, Thomas
Book Condition
Used - Carefully respined, edges of the binding rubbed but an excellent copy.
Quantity Available
1
Publisher
J. Dodsley
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
1768

Terms of Sale

Hordern House Rare Books

14 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 14 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged. For full terms please visit our website.

About the Seller

Hordern House Rare Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2009
Surry Hills, New South Wales

About Hordern House Rare Books

Hordern House, founded by Anne McCormick and Derek McDonnell in 1985 and named for our original building in Sydney's Potts Point, is an internationally renowned dealership, specialising in rare books, manuscripts and paintings.Nowadays we conduct our business in the heart of Surry Hills, five minutes from the centre of Sydney. We occupy an entire floor of a converted warehouse where we have created a customised environment for our work and the display of rare books, manuscripts & paintings.Always reflected in our extensive stock of rare and select material is our specialization in voyages and travels (with a special interest in the Pacific & Australia), natural history and colour-plate material, paintings and voyage art, historical maps and manuscripts.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

New
A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
Calf
Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
Octavo
Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
Edges
The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...

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