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I'm surprised that no-one has mentioned the following book:
Reginald Adams, The College Graces of Oxford and Cambridge (Oxford: The Perpetua Press, 1992)
This has more than anyone could wish to know about graces, including their history. The earliest graces are found in the Gelasian Sacramentary (Orationes ante Cibum [including one still used or adapted: "Benedic, Domine, dona tua, quae de tua largitate sumus sumpturi. Per.] and Orationes post Cibos).
The word "grace" comes from the Latin plural 'gratiae' - most commonly encountered post cibum, obviously.
The commonly found two-word formula "Benedictus benedicat" seems to be a 19th-century introduction, but the phrase itself may have a much longer history, probably as a monastic greeting - as a reference is given* to 16th-century Protestant writer poking fun at an ignorant Cistercian who said "Bernardus bernardat"!
*given as R. Hospinianus, De origine et progressu monachatus (Zurich, 1587), f.179v - I haven't checked this, is anyone in a position to do so?
While we're at it, prayers were used to bless all sorts of things. My favourite is the Prayer for Purifying Beer in which a Mouse or Weasel has Drowned [Pro Emendatione Cervise et Aliorum Elementorum Si Mus aut Mustella Mergitur Intus] found in the Durham Collectar and the Egbert Pontifical.
John Briggs