Thomas Gray, Authorship, and A Catalogue of the Antiquities, Houses, Parks, Plantations, Scenes, and Situations in England and Wales

In 1773, William Mason printed and privately circulated A Catalogue of the Antiquities, Houses, Parks, Plantations, Scenes, and Situations in England and Wales. By the end of the century it had gone through four editions. While Mason's edition was anonymous, the later three made it clear that the catalogue was compiled by Thomas Gray, and it is very likely that Mason's readers knew this too. The first part of this chapter draws on Gray's letters and Mason's Advertisement to his edition to reconstruct speculatively Gray's method in compiling the catalogue. Particular attention is given to Gray's use of correspondents, and how this might fit with his contemporaneous interests, ranging from his Commonplace Book notes on church architecture to his annotations of Linnaeus's Systema Naturae (10th edition). The second part of the chapter tracks the reception of the catalogue, much of which revolved around Gray's authorial presence. Unsurprisingly, critics have focused on Gray as a poet when discussing him in relation to the idea of authorship. In these accounts, Gray cuts an isolated, alienated figure. This chapter revisits Gray's authorial identity in a different disciplinary context, illuminating more collaborative models of authorship.