| A Posie of Gilloflowers |
Humfrey Gifford (fl. 1580), was an English poet. In 1580 he published A Posie of Gilloflowers containing 46 poems, a selection of verse translations of Italian riddles and nine prose translations from Italian.[1] A new edition was printed in 1875, edited by Alexander Balloch Grosart.[2]
Grosart describes his reference copy of A Posie (now in the British Library)[3] as a "unique exemplar". His edition is itself a rarity - only 40 copies were printed. However, a second copy of the original was discovered in 1930 and a further edition of A Posie was edited by F. J. Harvey Darton in 1933 - this time 500 copies were printed.[4] More recently two of Gifford's poems were included in The Penguin Book of Elizabethan Verse.[5]
Little is known of Gifford's life. In the Introduction to his Complete Poems, Grosart comments: "Our researches have been wide and persistent and warmly seconded by many fellow book-lovers. The result is sadly disproportionate to the expenditure." He places the Gifford family in Devon, and associates Humfrey with the Poultry Compter - a prison in Cheapside in the City of London - whether as an official or as an inmate is not clear.