An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard -
Thomas Gray
1869 - Sampson Low, London
‘Full many a Gem of purest Ray serene
The dark unfathom'd Caves of Ocean Bear:
Full many a Flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its Sweetness on the desert Air.’
A finely bound and illustrated edition of Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, one of the most widely-quoted poems of the 18th century. It is a meditation on the inevitability of death; the vanity of ambition and the universal human desire to be loved. In particular the poem looks at death as a leveller, an indiscriminate force which makes no distinction between the famous on the one hand and, on the other, the anonymous – those who, in the words of the poem:
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray
‘Widely considered his masterpiece, it is believed that Gray wrote the 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' in the graveyard of the church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire in 1751. The poem was a literary sensation when published by Robert Dodsley in February 1751 and has made a lasting contribution to English literature’
With sixteen colour chromolithograph illustrations from drawings by R. Barnes, R. P. Leitch, E. M. Wimperis and others, each with descriptive tissue guards, and two leaves of the original manuscript in facsimile. ‘Musical, eloquent, moral, the "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is not only a beautiful poem in its own right, but opens a network of cultural pathways. It connects the reader to English history and to European literature: Dante, Milton, the classical writers. Its ideas about society and education are deeply relevant today.’ – Carol Rumens, The Guardian, 2011.
Although Gray had circulated his Elegy in manuscript, he resisted publication until learning that the editor of the Magazine of Magazines, William Owen, intended to print the text and identify its author. Thus confronted, Gray advised Horace Walpole in a 12 February 1751 letter: "I have but one bad Way left to escape the Honour they would inflict upon me & therefore am obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately ... from your Copy but without my Name." The short time allowed for printing the poem accounts for the faulty presswork that affects the titles and final pages of many copies.
In an anonymous prefatory "Advertisement" to the first edition, Walpole remarked on the "general Approbation" the Elegy had already received. Publication quickly confirmed his verdict: four more Dodsley editions, as well as several unauthorised journal printings, appeared the same year, and in 1759 General James Wolfe is said to have declared of the Elegy, "I would rather be the author of that piece than take Quebec."
The Birdsall Bindery of Northampton, England, was founded in 1792 and ran continuously until 1961. It was in the top echelon of English binders. William Birdsall purchased the bookbinding business of John Lacy and Son in Northampton, England, in 1792. The new establishment consisted of a bindery, a book store, a circulating library, a post office and insurance and banking were transacted on the side. William brought his sons, James and Robert, into the business in 1823 and by 1826 James was the sole owner since his brother and father had both died. In the 1840's Anthony, a great-nephew of the founder William, bought the business and his son Richard entered the business in 1857. Anthony died in 1893 and Richard continued the business under the name of Birdsall & Son. The firm became a private company after 1915 when the descendants of Anthony and Richard took over the firm. Each successive generation expanded on the collection of tools and styles of bookbinding with developing interests in preservation, restoration and the history of books and bookbinding.
References: British Library, Romantics and Victorians. Hayward 173; Rothschild 1056; Grolier Hundred 49.
Small folio (binding size 25.7x19cm), pp. [3] 15 (single sheets, blank verso) [2] [4 (facsimile manuscript)] [2]. Finely bound by Birdsall of Northampton and London in contemporary three-quarter blue morocco over matching cloth boards, spine with gilt lettering and intricate decoration, matching marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, original gilt decorated cloth cover and spine laid in at the rear. Condition: Fine in fine binding but for light surface cracks to spine and minor rubbing to corners. Ref: 112419 Price: HK$ 9,000
The dark unfathom'd Caves of Ocean Bear:
Full many a Flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its Sweetness on the desert Air.’
A finely bound and illustrated edition of Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, one of the most widely-quoted poems of the 18th century. It is a meditation on the inevitability of death; the vanity of ambition and the universal human desire to be loved. In particular the poem looks at death as a leveller, an indiscriminate force which makes no distinction between the famous on the one hand and, on the other, the anonymous – those who, in the words of the poem:
Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray
‘Widely considered his masterpiece, it is believed that Gray wrote the 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard' in the graveyard of the church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire in 1751. The poem was a literary sensation when published by Robert Dodsley in February 1751 and has made a lasting contribution to English literature’
With sixteen colour chromolithograph illustrations from drawings by R. Barnes, R. P. Leitch, E. M. Wimperis and others, each with descriptive tissue guards, and two leaves of the original manuscript in facsimile. ‘Musical, eloquent, moral, the "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is not only a beautiful poem in its own right, but opens a network of cultural pathways. It connects the reader to English history and to European literature: Dante, Milton, the classical writers. Its ideas about society and education are deeply relevant today.’ – Carol Rumens, The Guardian, 2011.
Although Gray had circulated his Elegy in manuscript, he resisted publication until learning that the editor of the Magazine of Magazines, William Owen, intended to print the text and identify its author. Thus confronted, Gray advised Horace Walpole in a 12 February 1751 letter: "I have but one bad Way left to escape the Honour they would inflict upon me & therefore am obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately ... from your Copy but without my Name." The short time allowed for printing the poem accounts for the faulty presswork that affects the titles and final pages of many copies.
In an anonymous prefatory "Advertisement" to the first edition, Walpole remarked on the "general Approbation" the Elegy had already received. Publication quickly confirmed his verdict: four more Dodsley editions, as well as several unauthorised journal printings, appeared the same year, and in 1759 General James Wolfe is said to have declared of the Elegy, "I would rather be the author of that piece than take Quebec."
The Birdsall Bindery of Northampton, England, was founded in 1792 and ran continuously until 1961. It was in the top echelon of English binders. William Birdsall purchased the bookbinding business of John Lacy and Son in Northampton, England, in 1792. The new establishment consisted of a bindery, a book store, a circulating library, a post office and insurance and banking were transacted on the side. William brought his sons, James and Robert, into the business in 1823 and by 1826 James was the sole owner since his brother and father had both died. In the 1840's Anthony, a great-nephew of the founder William, bought the business and his son Richard entered the business in 1857. Anthony died in 1893 and Richard continued the business under the name of Birdsall & Son. The firm became a private company after 1915 when the descendants of Anthony and Richard took over the firm. Each successive generation expanded on the collection of tools and styles of bookbinding with developing interests in preservation, restoration and the history of books and bookbinding.
References: British Library, Romantics and Victorians. Hayward 173; Rothschild 1056; Grolier Hundred 49.
Small folio (binding size 25.7x19cm), pp. [3] 15 (single sheets, blank verso) [2] [4 (facsimile manuscript)] [2]. Finely bound by Birdsall of Northampton and London in contemporary three-quarter blue morocco over matching cloth boards, spine with gilt lettering and intricate decoration, matching marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, original gilt decorated cloth cover and spine laid in at the rear. Condition: Fine in fine binding but for light surface cracks to spine and minor rubbing to corners. Ref: 112419 Price: HK$ 9,000