Item 6 - Prose pieces in the hand of Thomas Gray

Identity area

Reference code

Crewe MS/6

Title

Prose pieces in the hand of Thomas Gray

Date(s)

  • 18th c. (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1 volume (39 x 29 cm), containing 28 leaves. Folios 1–16 each have papers mounted on them, i.e. inserted into spaces cut out of the leaves. Half-bound.

Context area

Name of creator

(1716-1771)

Biographical history

Archival history

The contents of this book were probably among the items purchased by Granville J. Penn at Evans’ auction of Gray’s papers in 1845, and they probably constituted Lot 53 at the sale of Penn’s collection at Sotheby’s in 1851. This was one of the lots which remained unsold and which were offered for sale again at the same place in 1854, when this lot was relisted as Lot 237. See Index of English Literary Manuscripts, iii (2).71, 74, 96, 98–100. Most of the items bear figures which are probably sums of money, and the leaves on which they are mounted bear references in pencil, some of which refer to the 1854 sale. Binder’s stamp of Leighton, Brewer St. The armorial bookplate of Robert, Earl of Crewe, is pasted inside the volume, and his heraldic ‘garb’ is stamped on the front.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

On the spine is stamped ‘Autograph MSS of the Poet Gray’.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Foliated 1–16, with four unnumbered flyleaves at the beginning and eight at the end.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English
  • French

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

IELM = Index of English Literary Manuscripts

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area

Related subjects

Related people and organizations

Related genres

Related places