Rare Copy of Gray's Elegy Given by Perc S. Brown

AN extremely rare first-edition, first-issue copy of Thomas Gray's Elegy, Writtenin a Country Church Yard has been presented to Baker Library through the Friends of the Library. This is the latest of many gifts to the College made by Perc S. Brown of Orinda, Calif.

Six copies of the first edition, published February 16, 1751, are in libraries in the United States and a few copies are in private collections. The Elegy, brought out in pamphlet form, proved so popular that eleven editions were printed, the first four in 1751. The original gray-green paper cover of the Dartmouth copy has been replaced, but otherwise the edition is intact. The title page bears no mention of authorship at Gray's own stipulation and the word "wrote" has erroneously been substituted for "written" in the title. This and a few other errors, which, in the eyes of book collectors enhance a book's interest, can probably be attributed to the fact that Gray, fearing an unscrupulous magazine editor might use the poem without permission, wrote hastily to his friend Horace Walpole, asking him to arrange for a publication within five days' time.

Mr. Brown, a member of the Friends of the Dartmouth Library, has previously given many valuable editions and several collections of books to Baker, among them two copies of the first edition of Tennyson's Idylls of the King, one a presentation copy, and the other Tennyson's own, with autographed corrections. Robert Louis Stevenson's personal copies of the NewTestament and the Book of CommonPrayer and several first editions of Stevenson books are also among Mr. Brown's gifts.