LOT #45077 |
Sold on Jun 27, 2024 for: Sign-in
or Join (free & quick)
[Thomas Gray]. An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by M. Cooper, 1751....
Click the image to load the highest resolution version.
Description
The Tinker copy of Gray's masterpiece
[Thomas Gray]. An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church
Yard. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by M. Cooper,
1751.4to (252 x 190 mm). Title between woodcut rules with emblems of death, the upper rule repeated at head of poem. Late 19th-century morocco, gilt-lettered on spine, by Riviere & Son; cloth slipcase.
FIRST EDITION, with earliest reading on page 10, line 4: "Some hidden Spirit" instead of "kindred Spirit," as in later editions. Begun in 1742, Gray's Elegy circulated freely in manuscript after being completed in 1750. He was eventually forced to publish the work on 15 February 1751, through the agency of his friend Horace Walpole, in order to preempt a magazine publisher from printing an unlicensed copy. Gray's Elegy was an immediate success, with five authorized editions published in the same year, and remains his most celebrated work.
Condition: Upper joint cracked but holding; minor wear edges; corners bumped; bookplate removed on front pastedown. Title-page and advertisement leaf little toned, with a few skillful repairs or reinforcements where previously folded; signature mark B partially punched through; final leaf with some tiny paper reinforcements to a few letters, including the letters of "Finis" (where often punched out entirely or hanging); some light even toning.
References: Ashley II, p. 159; Grolier, English 49; Hayward 173; Northup 492; Rothschild 1056; Stokes, p. 27; Tinker 1165.
Provenance: Chauncey Brewster Tinker (bookplate); purchased from C. A. Stonehill, Inc., New Haven, CT, 1968. From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 4
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 202
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
25% on the first $1,000,000 (minimum $49), plus 20% of any amount between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000, plus 15% of any amount over $5,000,000 per lot.
Shipping, Taxes, Terms and Bidding
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms
Important information concerning Sales Tax and Resale Certificates. Learn More
Terms and Conditions | Bidding Guidelines and Bid Increments | Glossary of Terms