Poems of Thomas Gray.

Tan leather binding with gilt edging and Eton college emblem on both boards. Black title plate with gilt lettering, gilt raised banding and emblems on the spine. Fine binding by Spottiwoode & Co. A truly lovely book As a poet Gray was admired out of all proportion to his modest output of verse. The whole of his anthumously published poetry amounts to less than 1,000 lines. He was unquestionably one of the least productive poets, though highly regarded. And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. Gray was a self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757, though he declined. His writing is conventionally considered to be pre-Romantic but recent critical developments deny such teleological classification.