Poems and Letters of Thomas Gray

London: Chiswick Press, 1874. Leather. Very Good. 11" by 9". None. A Riviere bound edition of Gray's poems and letters with monochrome tipped-in illustrations. With a portrait to frontispiece, a decorative title page, decorative head and tail pieces and capitals. With a biographical introduction by his friend The Hon. Ho A presentation page in Latin signed to an Eton student Biddulph dated 1877 to front. Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771) was a poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. Gray began seriously writing poems in 1742, mainly after his close friend Richard West died. Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only later in his life did he begin travelling again. Although he was one of the least productive poets (his collected works published during his lifetime amount to fewer than 1,000 lines), he is regarded as the foremost English-language poet of the mid-18th century. In 1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. With Riviere binder's stamp to verso of front free endpaper. In a calf binding. Externally, generally smart but with slight wear to extremities, rubbing and marks to boards. Hinges very slightly strained. Internally, firmly bound. Bright but with foxing, heaviest to first and last few pages and marginally to odd pages throughout, else generally clean. Very Good