Friday 22nd May 2026
4:30—7:30pm Nihon Room, Pembroke College, Cambridge
(in person only)
An exhibition of Thomas Gray collection materials curated by Genny Grim and Lizzy Ennion-Smith (Pembroke College Library and Archives) will be on display before and after the seminar.
5pm Nihon Room, Pembroke College, Cambridge
(in person or Teams)
Ruth Abbott (Cambridge) and Ephraim Levinson (Bristol) will present what they’ve discovered through their Gray project and explore Gray’s significance as a case study in eighteenth-century manuscript culture, antiquarianism, polymathy, the history of scholarship, and the organisation of knowledge in manuscript and print. They’ll also reflect on how the project took shape through several methods of research, collaboration, and publication, and what they learned by working both individually and collaboratively, and across digital, academic, and private press publication formats.
They’ll introduce their digital collection, which presents their editions of fifteen previously unpublished documents, among which are Gray’s Commonplace Book, his rediscovered Naturalist’s Journal, two of his pocketbooks, some loose notes, several Latin compositions, and the original copy of his poem ‘Luna est habitabilis’ (Thomas Gray Manuscripts, ed. Ruth Abbott, assoc. ed. Ephraim Levinson, Cambridge Digital Library, 2020-2026). They’ll also outline other publications and collaborations associated with the project, including fine facsimile editions of Gray’s Commonplace Book and Naturalist’s Journal (ed. Ruth Abbott, printed by Gomer Press for Pembroke College and the Roxburghe Club, 2024) and an edited book, Thomas Gray among the Disciplines, ed. Ruth Abbott and Ephraim Levinson (Routledge, 2025), which brings together scholars from across the humanities to analyse the diverse topics Gray’s scholarship embraced.
There will then be a seminar discussion with time for questions. Anyone interested is invited to explore the digital collection in advance: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/thomasgray.
6pm Thomas Gray Room, Pembroke College, Cambridge
(in person only)
After the seminar, you are invited to continue the discussion informally over a wine reception.
