Ode to Eton College (Blake/Thomas Gray)
Case 6 Figure 1 (30b)
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Figure 1. Blake, William (1757-1827). William Blake's water-colour designs for the poems of Thomas Gray, with introduction and commentary by Geoffrey Keynes. [Clairvaux, Jura, Trianon Press for the William Blake Trust, London, distributed by Bernard Quaritch, 1972].
This is a folio-sized three volume facsimile set of the originals possessed by Paul Mellon. The set contains one hundred and sixteen designs along with the inlaid pages of Thomas Gray's Poems (1790). The designs were probably begun around 1797. This set has French style morocco portfolio slip cases.
Thomas Gray (1761-1771) was an English poet and letter writer. He is notable as one of the forerunners of the Romantic movement. His poetry is marked by a love of nature and melancholy reflection, and consists primarily of meditative lyrics and Pindaric Odes. Some of these works include: Ode to Spring, Hymn to Adversity, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes. His most famous work is the The Progress of Poetry.