Designs by Mr. Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray

Commissioned by Horace Walpole, who wrote the "Explanation of the Prints" included at the beginning, this suite of illustrations for six of the greatest poems by Thomas Gray—including the Elegy in a Country Churchyard and Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat—is a landmark in the history of the illustrated book. It is also a stunningly beautiful work of art: in the words of Kenneth Clark, "the most graceful monument to Gothic Rococo." This is the first time it has been reproduced in its original form. An essay by Loftus Jestin places the designs in their artistic and literary context.