Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Gray, Thomas. Poems by Mr Gray. J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$128.33 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: London, Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall. Half title, title, Ode on the Spring, Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Ode on a Distant prospect of Eton College, Hymn to Adversity, The Progress of Poesy, The Bard, The Fatal Sisters, The Descent of Odin, The Triumphs of Owen, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Condition: Front board detached. Leather rubbed and bumped. Previous owner's name to title page (Mary Anne Dadley, 1811), occasional pencil annotation. Text block clean and sound. Detailed photographs on request.
Seller: Duck Cottage Books, HARLESTON, United Kingdom
Gray, Thomas. Poems. Printed for J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: First London edition. 1 vols. 8vo. Northup 52; Rothschild 1071 Later reptilian leather. Extremities rubbed, without half-title, tightly bound affecting some letters or words along inner margins on title and last two leaves at back, some browning and spotting, else a very good copy of this work
Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.
Price: US$153.99 + shipping
Description: "A New Edition." A very good full leather binding. 8vo. 7.0" x 5.0" x 0.5". [2pp.]/pp.119/[2pp.] , with a final contents leaf . Half-title (before the title-page) lacking. Page signatures: [A] , B-H8, I4, K . Brown calf carefully re-cased at sometime in the past. Board edges carefully strengthened. Matching brown calf spine with 5 raised bands gilt publication date: '1768' and tan leather title label: 'Gray's Poems". Plain endpapers, lightly soiled. Previous owner's details to front free-endpaper: "Hariette Chick, Christmas 1887." Printed title-page. Clean text throughout. Just the odd small blemish. VG. Referenced by: ESTC T136298 / Rothschild 1071 . Contents include: Ode on the Spring, Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Ode on a Distant prospect of Eton College, Hymn to Adversity, The Progress of Poesy, The Bard, The Fatal Sisters, The Descent of Odin, The Triumphs of Owen, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.
Seller: CHILTON BOOKS, SUDBURY, United Kingdom
GRAY, Thomas.. POEMS BY MR. GRAY. J. Dodsley,, London,, 1768.
Price: US$282.32 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First London Edition. Hardback. 8vo. pp 120. Bound in full calf, lettered gilt at the spine on a red leather label with five raised bands. First London edition - without the front endpaper or half title page. Contains 'Ode on a Distant Prospect on Eton College' and 'Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard'. Neat gift inscription on the title page, dated 1828. Slight wear at extremities, otherwise very good indeed.
Seller: Burwood Books, Wickham Market, United Kingdom
GRAY, [Thomas]. Poems by Mr. Gray.. Printed for J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$300.00 + shipping
Description: [4] 121 pp. 12mo, later old full mottled calf by Bennett of New York. First collected edition. Some inoffensive rubbing; a tight, sound, attractive copy. Half-title and blank at rear present.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Gray, Thomas. Poems. J. Dodsley 1768, London, 1768.
Price: US$384.98 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First Collected Edition of Gray's poems. [ii], 121 pp. Full calf with raised bands, red title label gilt beetle decorations and lettering to spine. Marking to the boards, splitting to the front joints and loss to the spine ends. Front board slightly loose. Binding of the textblock firm. Slight scattered spotting and minor offsetting internally. First collected edition with half title and k2 blank. This particular copy copy belonged to two figures of note. It features the bookplate of Sir Thomas Miller, a baronet and politician 1717-1789, to the front pastedown and the book label of Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist and man of letters 1884-1941, to the front free end paper. ESTC T136928 Small 8vo.
Seller: Foster Books - Stephen Foster - ABA, ILAB, & PBFA, London, United Kingdom
Thomas Gray. Poems by Mr Gray. London J Dodsley 1768, 1768.
Price: US$384.98 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: The New edition of the first edition also published in 1768. Bound in contemporary tan calf. Raised bands to spine with gilt decoration and red title label. Edges are very rubbed and worn. Shoulders are splitting and front and rear hinges are loose. Small stains and spotting to boards. Pages are age tanned but bright and clean. Previous owner's signature on fep - a Miss J Gray, dated 1795. Possibly a relation of Gray's though he was unmarried and his siblings all died in infancy. A very nice copy.
Seller: Reader's Books, Petworth, United Kingdom
Thomas Gray. Poems by Mr. Gray. J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$410.64 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A very early edition of the poems of Thomas Gray, a wonderful complete edition of his Romantic works. A new edition, published in the same year as the first edition.Half-title and contents leaf both present.Collated, complete.The collected poems and letters of Thomas Gray. Also including his various other works, including essays on architecture and art.Gray is best known for his poem 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard', which is included in this volume. However he was an incredibly self-critical poet, and only published thirteen poems during his life.Gray was offered the position of Poet Laureate, but turned it down. He is considered to be pre-Romantic.Prior owner's ink inscription to the recto of the front free endpaper, inscribed 'His Britannic Majesty's Ship Tagus, Spithead, Nov 1813'. In a full calf inding. Externally, generally smart, with some light marks to the boards and spine, including a tidemark to the rear board. Minor bumping to the extremities. A small amount of loss to the head of the spine. Small crack to the front joint. Prior owner's ink inscription to the recto of the front free endpaper. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean with only the occasional spot. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Thomas Gray. Poems by Mr. Gray. J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, first printing, of Thomas Gray's first collected poems. Title page dated 1768. Includes the scarce half-title page. 120 text pages followed by a "Contents" page with 10 titles listed. Three original blank pages precede and one original blank page follows the text. 19th-century signed fine binding by "Riviere & Son" in light-tan full calf. Spine ornately decorated in gilt with five raised bands and brown leather title label lettered in gilt. Triple-ruled gilt bordering on both covers. Ornately decorated gilt borders on inside covers. All page edges gilt-covered. Bluish-green endpapers. In VERY GOOD + condition. Spine remains very bright and unworn. Light wear to the edges and minor touches of wear to the front cover. Tightly bound and square with no cracking. Light crease at the top corner of the front blank pages and small faint writing in pencil on the first text page. Otherwise flawless interior. Pages are bright and clean with no foxing or browning. No previous owner signature or bookplate. Contents: Ode on the Spring, Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Hymn to Adversity, The Progress of Poesy, The Bard, The Fatal Sisters, The Descent of Odin, The Triumphs of Owen, and Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard.
Seller: Odysseus Books, Orange Park, FL, U.S.A.
Poems By Mr Gray. Gray,Thomas. J Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$532.19 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: This is a Very Good +/ Near Fine Copy of this book bound in full rich brown leather (calf) with five raised bands to spine with title label to 2nd compartment in red morocco lettered in gilt with further gilt work to each of the other compartments alomng spine.Inner gilt dentelles are present along edges.Plain endpapers.Crucially this copy has it's original half title page and final blank leaf as called for,with 120 pages plus contents page and final blank leaf.New Edition Stated to the Title Page.This work that includes 'Elergy in a Churchyard' and 'an Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College' was published in the same year as a First Edition.There are no previous names or inscriptions present,no former bookplates.Usual browning to endpapers,but nothing untoward and the binding is firm with no hinge weakness,very light wear to edges and corners of the outer boards.Handsome copy of this scarce title and certainly recommended buy for any scholar or collector.8vo 120pp + contents + final blank leaf New Edition [1768]
Seller: Richard Thornton Books PBFA, Old Langho, United Kingdom
Thomas Gray. Poems By Mr Gray A New Edition. J Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$577.47 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A collected edition of Thomas Gray's poetry. This is the 'New Edition' as stated to title page, though published the same year as the first. With the scarce half title and contents leaf. With an ex-libris bookplate of Franz Pollack Von Parnau of Vienna, Austria. With the bookplate of John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort to the front pastedown. The armorial bookplate has the Carysfort/Proby shield with the heraldic crown of an Earl at the top. The motto 'Quis Separabit' and the Date 1783 is to the outer of the shield. This is the motto for the order of St Patrick, which is also illustrated to the bookplate. Proby was awarded with the Order of St Patrick in 1784. The Order of St Patrick is an order of chivalry first issued in 1783 by George III. John Proby was a British judge, diplomat and Whig politican. He was the second Baron Carysfort, succeeding his father, before becoming Earl of Carysfort. He resided at Glenart Castle, County Wicklow. From the antiquarian library of Christopher Rowe. Christopher Rowe was a schoolmaster in Norwich and then in Bristol. Throughout his career he inspired many to love literature, history and music. He was a specialist on 17th century printer and bookseller, Humphres Moseley and began his, unfortunately unfinished, PhD dissertation on him. This collection has many of Gray's popular poems such as 'Ode on the Spring', 'Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat' and 'The Progress of Poesy'. The final poem of this work is arguably Gray's best known work 'Elegy written in a Country Church-Yard. In full calf binding with gilt stamping to spine. Externally, generally smart with cracks to joints, heavier to the front joint. Loss to the head and tail of spine. Small loss to raised bands also. Front hinge is slightly strained but firm. Prior owner's bookplate to front pastedown and a library bookplate to recto of front endpaper. Another prior owner's bookplate to verso of front endpaper, Christopher Rowe. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are slightly age toned to edges with instances of light spots. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
GRAY, Thomas. Poems by Mr. Gray. J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$585.56 + shipping
Description: 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). Carefully respined, edges of the binding rubbed but an excellent copy.
Seller: Hordern House Rare Books, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia
GRAY, THOMAS. Poems By Mr. Gray. J. Dodsley, London, 1768.
Price: US$638.83 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Small 8vo. Bound in leather. Some damage to head and tail of spine. Gift inscription in ink to front pastedown. Poor repairs to page 109. Last page chopped at bottom. Contains the first appearance of The Fatal Sisters, The Descent of Odin and The Triumphs of Owens.
Seller: Karol Krysik Books ABAC/ILAB, IOBA, PBFA, Toronto, ON, Canada
GRAY, Thomas.. Poems.. London: Printed for J. Dodsley, 1768, 1768.
Price: US$962.45 + shipping
Description: First collected edition, in a contemporary binding retaining the half-title. The volume includes some of Gray's most popular works, such as "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College", and poems from Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751), Designs by Mr. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray (1753) and Odes, by Mr. Gray, Printed at Strawberry Hill (1757). For the present edition, Gray revised and expanded the earlier versions of his poems: "Gray supplied two translations from Old Norse, 'The Fatal Sisters' and 'The Descent of Odin', and one from Welsh, 'The Triumphs of Owen', all probably dating from 1761, when his enthusiasm for James Macpherson's Ossianic productions temporarily revived his interest in the prehistory of English poetry. He also provided notes explaining some of the obscurities of the 1757 odes. About the same time [as Dodsley] Beattie proposed a collected edition, to be printed by the Foulis brothers of Glasgow. With Dodsley's approval, Gray consented, and on 1 February 1768 sent to Beattie the same instructions and the same new material that he had supplied to Dodsley. The London edition appeared on 12 March 1768, the Glasgow edition on 4 May" (ODNB). ESTC T136298; Clark Sutherland Northup, A Bibliography of Thomas Gray, 1917, no. 52. Octavo (182 x 115 mm). Contemporary calf, rebacked to style and recornered, spine with gilt ruled raised bands and gilt decoration in compartments, green morocco label, edges sprinkled red. Woodcut ornament to title page, headpieces. Partially erased inscription to head of title page. Browning from binder's glue to margins of half-title, marks or spots to a few leaves, otherwise crisp and clean, leaf H and H2 inverted, lacking final blank. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom