"A TURNING POINT IN BRITISH DECORATIVE ART… ANTICIPATES THE BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS OF WILLIAM BLAKE"
GRAY, Thomas (BENTLEY, Richard, illustrator). Designs by Mr. R. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray. London, 1753.
Second edition, issued the same year as the first, of Richard Bentley's illustrated edition of six of Thomas Gray's poems, including his masterpiece "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard" (first published in 1751), one of the most famous poems in the English language, with 25 lively engravings, consisting of a title page vignette, six historiated initials, six headpieces, six tailpieces, and six full-page folio plates, all by Bentley. Handsomely bound in contemporary morocco-gilt by Clarke & Bedford. $3500.
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