The Works of Thomas Gray, In Two Volumes by Thomas Gray (edited by Thomas James Mathias, with Memoirs by William Mason) - 1814

London: Printed by William Bulmer and Co., Shakspeare Press, for John Porter, Bookseller to Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, 1814. Book. Very Good. Full-Leather. First Edition. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. "With memoirs of his life and writings by William Mason. To which are subjoined extracts philological poetical and critical from the author's original manuscripts selected and arranged by Thomas James Mathias." In Two Volumes (complete). First edition, first printing, with both title pages dated 1814. Original dark-brown full-calf fine binding. Ornate gilt decoration on spines. Red and black morocco title and volume labels with gilt lettering. Gilt borders on both covers. Marbled endpapers. Huge and very heavy folio-size volumes, measuring 12" x 10" x 2". 581 and 634 text pages. Includes Gray's poems, letters and prose, with most of the prose published for the first time. Illustrated with a facsimile reproduction of Gray's original handwritten copy of "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard" taken from his manuscripts on four engraved plates, frontispiece engravings in both volumes (the first a portrait of Gray), an engraving of Gray's tomb in the churchyard of Stoke-Pugis near Windsor, and an engraving featuring vignette medallions of Gray and Mason from their cenotaphs in Westminster Abbey. In VERY GOOD condition. Light overall wear. Gilt on spine remains bright and mostly unworn. Light chipping to the red leather title label on Vol. I and the black leather volume label on Vol. II. Vol. II has a one-inch-long thin scrape in the leather at the center of the front spine joint and an adjacent two-inch repair to the leather on the front board. There are a few small repairs to the leather surfaces elsewhere. Otherwise excellent. Tightly bound, sturdy and square with no cracking to the joints or hinges. Nearly flawless interiors. Pages are all bright and clean with just typical light age-toning and some offsetting from engraved plates on previous pages. No significant foxing. No stains, tears or creases. Small previous owner's antique ex-libris bookplate at top corner of first blank page of the first volume. Some bookstore notations concerning this edition in pencil on same page. Otherwise unmarked..