Silverpoints

Silverpoints is the 1893 verse collection of John Gray (1866-1934), the dockworker’s son who became the most elegant poet of the English decadence and, later, a Catholic priest in Edinburgh. Designed by Charles Ricketts in tall slim format with flame ornaments, the book is as famous as object as text, and its poems include the translations from Verlaine and Mallarmé that carried French symbolism into English. Gray’s friendship with Wilde and his curious afterlife as Canon Gray keep biographers busy still. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.