Author: GRAY (Thomas). MASON (William), editor:
Title: The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W. Mason, M. A.
Description: York: Printed by A. Ward; and sold by J. Dodsley..., London..., 1775. FIRST COLLECTED COMPLETE EDITION. 4to, 266 x 205 mms., pp. [iv], 416, 111 [112 Contents, 113 Errata, 114 - 116 blank], engraved portrait (by James Basire after B. Wilson, contemporary diced calf, gilt spine, black leather label; lower portion of boards damp-stained, affecting lower corner of first five leads, joints cracked, corners worn. A serviceable copy, with the contemporary armorial bookplate of Charles Legh Hoskins Master on the front paste-down end-paper and an appreciative note on the verso of the front free marbled end-paper, but probably in a later hand and not that of Hoskins Master. In his last years, Gray (1716 - 1771) was Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, though he never gave an inaugural lecture. One of his last compositions, published in 1769, was an ode performed at the installation of His Grace Augustus-Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton, Chancellor of the University; this was set to music by the Professor of Music, Dr. John Randal, and included here in the poems, which comprise the shorter part of the volume. Mason included in the volume poems that Gray had not intended to print. Mason composed the memoirs by quoting from selected letters, linked by some narrative, a form of biography that he seems to have inaugurated, or at least made popular.

Keywords: biography poetry literature


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