Poems by Mr. Gray. A New Edition

London: J. Murray, 1778. Later printing. Hardcover. Good + overall. Sml 8vo, 158pp, b&w frontis, b&w illus. One half green calf with marbled boards; gilt title (Gray's Poems) at spine. Spine is toned; small scratch at calf at top front cover. Internally, bookplate inside front cover; inscription dated 1787 at ffep wiritten by an Amanda Lock who also contributes Four pages of beautiful copper plate handwriting at the back of the volume record the text of a few of Gray's odes, including Ode on the Pleasures of Vicissitude, which is noted here as "Ode - Unfinished"; the text of the ode stops four lines short of Gray's own. New edition, with three manuscript poems added at the end. First published in 1768.
Gray (1716-71) English poet, "He excelled his contemporaries in meticulous workmanship and in ability to use new materials--medieval Welsh or Scandinavian--with dramatic imaginative power..." Baugh. "His enthusiasm had been roused by the fragments of Gaelic poetry published by Macpherson in 1760. He did his best to believe in their authenticity and found himself in rather uncongenial alliance with Hume, whose skepticism was for once quenched by his patriotism. Gray's interest probably led him to his imitations from the Norse and Welsh.
Only in later life did Gray actually express the love he felt for another man. (Summers, Gay and Lesbian Literary Heritage).