Nightingales and Roses: the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Nightingales and Roses: the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Edmund Dulac, Night, illustration for the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Edmund Dulac, ‘Night’, illustration for the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Perhaps one of the best-known, best-loved and most-illustrated poems in the English language, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is a unique publishing phenomenon. Translated (or, as Fitzgerald put it, ‘transmogrified’) from the quatrains of 11th century Persian poet, philosopher and mathematician Omar Khayyam by Edward Fitzgerald and first published in 1859 in pamphlet form, it has rarely been out of print since and has appeared in over 650 different editions. After an initially disastrous reception (it seems that, initially, not one of the 250 copies Fitzgerald had printed were sold, and ended up in a penny box outside bookseller and sometime-publisher Bernard Quaritch in Leicester Square) a copy was eventually passed by an acquaintance to Romantic artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He in turn passed it to his friend Algernon Charles Swinburne and it soon became a staple of Victorian reading matter, culturally ubiquitous and overwhelmingly popular.

The reason for such widespread affection may lie in the universal appeal of the themes which appear in Fitzgerald’s rendering of the verses, which meditate upon death, love, happiness, the transience of life and pleasure of imbibing:

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and–sans End!

While the Rose blows along the River Brink,
With old Khayyam the Ruby Vintage drink:
And when the Angel with his darker Draught
Draws up to Thee – take that, and do not shrink.

Such broad yet elegantly expressed sentiments, coupled with its exotic origins, rendered it almost infinitely open to interpretation and a rich inspiration for the aesthetic of fin-de-siècle hedonism, as Daniel Karlin notes in his introduction to the text: ‘nightingales and roses, sultans and sheikhs (there are no sheikhs), caravans and camels (there are no camels)’.

 

First Edition, Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia, Edward Fitzgerald, London: Bernard Quaritch, 1859.

FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. 1859 [111542]

FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. 1859 [111542]

One of the original 250 published anonymously by Fitzgerald and Quaritch, and that Quaritch found so hard to sell at first. This copy might well have lain in the penny barrel outside the bookshop, to be thumbed through by the contemporaries of Rossetti, Swinburne, Burne-Jones, who spoke so highly of it.

 

Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyam, Edward Fitzgerald, Illustrated by Edmund Dulac, 1909

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(DULAC, Edmund.) OMAR KHAYYÁM; Edward Fitzgerald (trans.) Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald.

One of the most iconic illustrators of folk and fairy tale, Dulac’s interpretation of the Rubaiyat is possibly the most recognisable. Interpreting the verses freely, Dulac created and orientalist fantasy to appeal to turn-of-the-century tastes. His illustrations remain some of the most enchanting of all the illustrated versions.

 

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, With an introduction by A. C. Benson. Reproduced from a manuscript written and illuminated by F. Sangorski & G. Sutcliffe, [1910]

OMAR KHAYYAM; FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. With an introduction by A. C. Benson. Reproduced from a manuscript written and illuminated by F. Sangorski & G. Sutcliffe. [1910] [111195]

OMAR KHAYYAM; FITZGERALD, Edward. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. With an introduction by A. C. Benson. Reproduced from a manuscript written and illuminated by F. Sangorski & G. Sutcliffe. [1910] [111195]

111195_3

This history of the Sangorski & Sutcliffe Rubaiyat is a curious one. Famous for the magnificence of their jewelled and gilded bindings, the bookbinders were commissioned in 1909 to produce the most lavish edition of the Rubaiyat yet. Its cover was decorated with gilded peacocks and inlaid with jewels and it was known as the Great Omar. The book was to be sent to New York but, after missing two successive ships due to customs issues, it was booked on the next available crossing, the Titanic, and went down with the ship in 1912. It has never been recovered from the wreckage. Six weeks later, the creator of the Grand Omar, Francis Sangorski, drowned in a bathing accident off Selsey Bill.

The firm continues and was able to recreate a second copy of the Great Omar six years later. Wishing to take no chances this time, the book was stored in a bank vault. The bank, vault and book were destroyed in the London Blitz during World War II.

This copy is one of a limited of 25 copies printed on Japanese vellum, reproduced from the original illuminated manuscript by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, and remains one of the most opulent copies of the Rubaiyat.

 

Ella Hallward’s copy of Ruba’iyat of Hakim Omar-i-Khayyam. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897. A photographic reproduction of the MS. written at Shiraz in the year A.H. 865 (A.D. 1460) and now in the Bodleian Library, from a transcript of which Edward Fitzgerald began the first edition of his ‘Rubáiyát of Omar Kháyyám’ (London) 1859.

(HALLWARD, Ella.) Ruba'iyat of Hakim Omar-i-Khayyam. 1897 [111395]

(HALLWARD, Ella.) Ruba’iyat of Hakim Omar-i-Khayyam. 1897 [111395]

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These two beautiful little volumes were created especially for Ella Hallward. Fitzgerald’s translation of the work of Khayyam was not the only one, and Hallward was notable for having illustrated Edward Heron-Allen’s 1898 version, published by H. S. Nichols.

Accompanying the manuscript reproduction is a second volume; Hallward’s copy of the Fitzgerald translation. Towards the back, a sprig of rose leaves have been pressed between the pages. An inscription – ‘Boulge, 9th October 1897’ – tells us that this was probably clipped from the rose bush which grows above Fitzgerald’a grave at St Michael’s Church in Boulge, Suffolk. This rose bush was planted in 1893 by the Omar Khayyam Club and was grown from a seed taken from the rose bush over the grave of Omar Khayyam at Nishapur.

 

Numerous other magnificent copies of the Rubaiyat exist and attest to its continued popularity and collectability. View our entire stock of items here.

Jewels & Illuminations: Sangorski & Sutcliffe

Jewels & Illuminations: Sangorski & Sutcliffe

 

The volume above, seen housed in its silk and velvet-lined case, represents the peak of twentieth-century book arts.  Sangorski & Sutcliffe was founded in an attic in Bloomsbury in 1901 by two apprentice binders, and in only a few years it had become one of the most important binderies in the world. Francis Sangorski and his partner George Sutcliffe produced exquisite luxury bindings incorporating delicate inlays and onlays, detailed silver and gilt work, and valuable gemstones. The firm is perhaps best remembered for the book known as “The Great Omar“, a copy of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám incorporating 150 individual jewels in its covers, which sank with the Titanic in 1912 only weeks before Sangorski himself died in a drowning accident.

This  copy of A Dream of Fair Women (BOOK SOLD) by Alfred Tennyson was hand-written and illuminated on vellum and finely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe sometime between 1905 and 1911. The covers are blue-green morocco with brown and red onlays and exquisite gilt blocking, and feature five garnet and six turquoise cabochons inset into the upper cover. A very handsome example of the illuminations and jeweled bindings for which the firm was famous. As usual, click to enlarge the images.

Turquoise and garnet on the Sangorski & Sutcliffe binding.

Turquoise and garnet on the Sangorski & Sutcliffe binding.

Title page - Dream of fair Women

Title page – Dream of fair Women

Page Dream of fair Women

Page Dream of fair Women

Page Dream of fair Women

Page Dream of fair Women

 

Dream of fair Women

Dream of fair Women

Jeweled binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe

Jeweled binding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe

 

 

A Practical Guide to Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau

A Practical Guide to Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau

Chrysanthemum Art Nouveau pattern.

One of the most visually delightful items to land on my desk recently, is a set of Arts & Crafts magazine is a wonderful record of the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau movements and their appeal to amateur artists and craftspeople.

The Arts & Crafts Movement grew from the ideals of William Morris and John Ruskin, who believed that modern industry was detrimental to English life and aesthetics, dehumanizing the production of goods and influencing the Victorian taste for inexpensive yet gaudy decor. Beginning in the 1860s Morris, Ruskin, and their followers advocated the return to skilled craftsmanship and an over-arching aesthetic influenced by traditional styles such as the Gothic. Morris’s interior design firm became famous for its wallpapers, textiles and stained glass, and his Kelmscott Press revived the art of the hand-press by creating masterpieces of book design such as The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Appearing in the 1890s, and in many ways inspired by Morris, Art Nouveau did not have a social reform aspect like that of the Arts & Crafts Movement, but it did advocate a total aesthetic incorporating art, architecture, and interior design. Its proponents were inspired by graceful and curving natural forms, such as the flowing shapes of plants and the iridescent bodies of insects. The two styles were contemporary for a short period, and the Art Nouveau aesthetic meshed well with the Arts & Crafts emphasis on romanticism and hand-production.

Wrapper to the first number, bound in to volume I.

Both movements were also popular with the middle and upper classes, who took to them as hobbyists and semi-professionals (with book binding becoming a particular favourite of artistically-minded women), not unlike the contemporary resurgence of crafting as exemplified by Etsy. It was to capitalize on this trend that Arts & Crafts magazine was founded in 1904. It described itself as “A Monthly Practical Magazine for the Studio, the Workshop, and the Home”, but based on the contents its primary audience was not composed of professionals but middle and upper class people with free time, disposable incomes, and an interest in art but no formal training. It featured practical articles on supplies and tools, instructions for reproducing professional techniques, stylistic advice and patterns, photographs of professional work and museum pieces, announcements of amateur competitions, and general art and exhibition news.

Our set includes all the issues up to April 1906 (the British Library holds issues dated up to August of that year), bound together in four volumes and retaining the original wrappers from some of the issues. It is replete with large photo spreads and detailed instructional diagrams , as well as wonderful  patterns designed for readers to use in their own craft projects. Even better from our perspective, one of the magazine’s regular features was a section on bookbinding by master binders Sangorski & Sutcliffe, written during the most creative period in the firm’s history. Below, a selection of images give a flavour of the magazine’s contents. As usual, click any photo to enlarge.

To learn more about these movements see the following links:

Introduction to the First Number

The Technical Process of Enamelling

Modelling from Life

Casting in Plaster

Casting in Plaster continued

Pyrogravure

Bookbinding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe

Bookbinding by Sangorski & Sutcliffe

Example of a Sangorski & Sutcliffe Binding

Art Nouveau Bookbinding Pattern

Art Nouveau Patterns

Arts & Crafts Style Patterns

Art Nouveau Casket Design

Arts & Crafts Wood Carvings

Examples of Historic Furniture Designs

Art Nouveau Jewelery

Our bound set of Arts & Crafts magazine.