Alternate Form:
Several facsimiles, including P. J. Croft, Autograph Poetry in the English Language, 2 vols, (Oxford, 1969), Sherburn (ed.), Elegy (1951), and Elegy (1976), where the MS and its provenance are discussed
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 32, 82; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), additional lines in the "Eton MS", 40-41nn; Fukuhara/Bergen, Elegy (1933); Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1995; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 602, 9, Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53, 40-41, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 226, 69; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53,] 8-9
Contents: Autograph draft, here entitled "Stanza's wrote in a Country Church-Yard", and reading "Curfeu". This MS, sometimes called the "Eton MS" or "Fraser MS", contains five additional stanzas (four after l. 72, and the "Redbreast stanza" after l. 116), which were omitted in the first edition of 1751, in 1753, and in 1768.
Alternate Form:
Facsimiles include McDermott, Penn and Gray (1930), 14-16 and Fukuhara, Bibliographical Study (1933), plate II
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 33, 82; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 156, vol. i, 334-340 (subscription required); Elegy (1976); Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Northup, Bibliography (1917), item 1996; Catalogue of a Sotheby's sale (27 February 1950), lot 239, facsimile in catalogue
Contents: Autograph fair copy, following a letter to Thomas Wharton, 18 December [1750].
Alternate Form:
Microfilm copy available in Poetic Commonplace Books and Manuscripts of Thomas Gray, 1716-1771, from Pembroke College, Cambridge (1999), reel one. Full facsimile published in A facsimile of the original autograph manuscript of Gray's Elegy. Photographed by Messrs. Cundall, Downes & Co. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co. 1862, other facsimiles include Mathias (ed.), Works (1814), vol. I, following p. [64], Poole (ed.), Poetical Works (1917), 90-91, and Folger Shakespeare Library, ART Vol. a9, follows p. 50.
Contents: Autograph, revised, here entitled "Elegy, written in a Country-Church Yard. 1750" and reading "Curfeu", with numbered lines (10, 20, etc.), an additional quatrain, the "Redbreast stanza", annotated "Insert" after l. 116 and "Omitted in 1753", and an extensive prose note, in Gray's Commonplace Book, vol. II, 617-618.
Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 35, 82
Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 10. and identified on f. 3r as "10. Elegy, written in a country-churchyard" in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768. The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 36, 82; Heist, Michael, "RE: Modern (Bound) Manuscripts, vol.52, Robert H. Taylor Collection". E-mail to the editor, 11 January 2007
Contents: Autograph notes to the poem, in MS instructions to Beattie for the 1768Glasgow edition, originally sent in a letter, 1 February 1768.
Separated Material: The letter in which these instructions were originally sent is now at Historic Collections, King's College, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.