Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám; The Astronomer-Poet of Persia. Rendered into English Verse

London: Bernard Quaritch, 1872. Third Edition. Near fine. 8vo, 8 1/4 x 6 inches (210 x 153 mm); xxiv + 36 + (xiv) pp. Beautiful dark maroon morocco binding by Club Bindery 1892 (gold stamped on bottom of inside cover), gilt titling and gilt fillets on turn-ins and board edges, marbled endpapers, t.e.g. Pictorial bookplate of John A. Spoor 1921 on inside front cover by Emery Walker. Elegantly printed with text within decorative frames on each page. Spine lightly rubbed, small tear to the inside front endpaper.
[Potter, 137]. Edward Fitzgerald continually revised and rearranged his version of the Rubáiyát, which was first published privately by the author in 1859, through four distinct editions during his lifetime. This third edition settled on 101 quatrains (as opposed to 75 in the first edition and 110 in the second), which is how it solidified. 500 copies were printed. A RARITY.

In this third edition the translator is not credited on the title page, nor is the introductory text. Fitzgerald said of his Persian translations that they were "All very well, but very little affairs..." (from the Bibliographical Note in the 1926 Shakespeare Head Press edition, which we are offering, inventory #416)

This copy bears the bookplate of Chicago business mogul John A. Spoor. An avid book collector, he assembled a notable and impressive book collection during the late 19th and early 20th century, which was auctioned in 1939 by Parke-Bernet New York over the course of 6 days. The Morgan Library holds a number of books with the Spoor bookplate in its collections. This bookplate was engraved by Emery Walker (1851 - 1933), an engraver, publisher and photographer active in the Arts and Crafts movement, whose work in type design inspired the evolution of private presses in the UK, among them William Morris' Kelmscott Press.

OMAR KHAYYÁM (1048 - 1131) was a Persian, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and poet. Born in northeastern Persia around the time of the First Crusade, his poetry in quatrains became wildly popular during the Orientalist craze of fin-de-siècle Europe, with several verse and prose translations in English, French, German, and Russian being published starting with Edward Fitzgerald in 1859.