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A Book in the Wilderness. FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. 150 years in print and image

A Book in the Wilderness. Jos Biegstraaten and Jos Coumans. Amsterdam, Rozenberg Publishers, 2009. 125 p. ISBN: 9789036101141

Summary
‘A Book in the Wilderness’ accompanied an exhibition held in Museum Meermanno, The Hague (The Netherlands). The book provides information on a variety of editions that illustrate two important developments in publishing and printing the Rubáiyát: typographical aspects in a number of private press editions, and the various ways in which the Rubáiyát were illustrated. The main sections in the book highlight
– the four FitzGerald editions and a number of facsimile and pirated editions;
– the succes of the Rubáiyát in the USA and the UK with Mosher, Bradley, the Roycrofters and a number of English private press editions;
– illustrated editions: William Morris and Elihu Vedder; famous illustrators such as Dulac, Pogany; Dutch illustrators;
– miniature editions from the early 20th century until today.

Each item is illustrated with miniatures, larger illustrations in a separate section of the book.

Contents

Foreword by Leo Voogt, p. 7
Introduction, p. 13
Edward FitzGerald: first editions, p. 19
Edward FitzGerald: pirated and facsimile editions, p. 25
USA: Mosher and Bradley, p. 28
Morris’ influence: UK, USA and The Netherlands, p. 32
USA: The Roycroft Printing Shop, 41
English presses, p. 46
The first illustrated editions, p. 51
Illustrated editions: commercial publishers, p. 58
Illustrated editions: some techniques, p. 68
Dutch illustrators, p. 74
Miniatures and small books, p. 79
Select bibliography and further reading, p. 113
Index, p. 120

 

Empire, Piracy and Appropriation. India & the Englishing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Empire, Piracy and Appropriation. India & the Englishing of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. John Drew. Cambridge, Cambridge Poetry Workshop, 2009. 73 p.

Summary:
When the Rubáiyát was published in London in 1859, it fell dead from the press. Surprisingly, the next edition of the poem was publieshed in India. The Madras edition of 1862 was not a mere reprint but a whole compendium of Omarian studies. This booklet makes available all 136 translated quatrains published in the Madras edition, 79 by FitzGerald and the rest by others intimately associated with him in the Rubáiyát story.

Contents

Introductory Essay:
1. The Calcutta Connection p. I
2. Piracy in Madras, p. II

A Sample Comparison of Translated Quatrains Together with Several others of Interest p. 25
Quatrains Attributed to Omar Khayyám Published in the Madras 1862 Edition p. 28
1. Garcin de Tassy p. 29
2. Edward Byles Cowell p. 31
3. Whitley Stokes p. 37
4. Edward FitzGerald p. 40

A Further Note on Major Thomas Evans Bell (1825-1887) and Whitley Stokes (1830-1909) p. 54

1857: Two Appendices p. 60
Extract from a Letter by Evans Bell p. 61
Extract from a Letter by George Thompson p. 65

Select Bibliography p. 67
Acknowledgements p. 73

The dog the mongoose. The Indian pirate edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1862)

The dog & the mongoose. The Indian pirate edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1862). An introduction by John Drew. Cambridge, Cambridge Poetry Workshop, 2009. 68 p.

Summary:
Limited Library edition. A variant edition for the general reader was published as: Empire, piracy and appropriation: India and the Englishing of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Contents

Introductory Essay:
The Dog & the Mongoose p. l
Quatrains Attributed to Omar Khayyám
Published in the Madras 1862 Edition p. 28
1. Garcin deTassy p. 29
2. Edward Byles Cowell p. 31
3. Whitley Stokes p. 37
4. Edward Fitz.Gerald p. 40
A Sample Comparison of Translated Quatrains Together with Several Others of Interest p. 54
A Further Note on Major Thomas Evans Bell (1825-1887) p. 58
Essential Sources p. 62
End Note p. 68

Infinite transformation: The modern craze over the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England and America, c. 1900-1930

Infinite transformation: The modern craze over the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam in England and America, c. 1900-1930. Michelle Kaiserlian. Proquest Dissertations and Theses, 2009. Illustrated. 374 p. ISBN: 9781109586534.

Summary
“In the first critical study of the Rubáiyát craze as a whole and as a creative and historical phenomenon, I examine visual and literary responses to the poem in the form of illustrations, parodies, advertisements, and religio- philosophical debates to determine the Rubáiyát’ s overwhelming and enduring resonance in the culture. I argue that people’s engagement with and their myriad responses to the poem performed a kind of cultural work during a period of great social, economic, technological, scientific, and religious upheaval. I demonstrate how the Rubáiyát became a vehicle through which people processed the rapid changes of modern life and how poem and craze alike provided a tool to define and order an increasingly uncertain and fragmented world.“

Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

INTRODUCTION 1

PROLOGUE 20
The Imagined Elites of the Omar Khayyám Club

CHAPTER ONE 35
In (and Out of) Omar’s Garden: Illustrating the Rubáiyát

Out of the Garden: Taking Omar on Holiday
In an Oriental Garden
The Symbolic Garden

CHAPTER TWO 81
Rubáiyát Parodies and Modern Life: The Omar Cure-all

Defining the Rubáiyát Parody
Nationalism, Fraternity, and the British Rubáiyát Parody
The Other Among Us: Views of Dominance and Compassion
Risky Business and Deviant Behavior: Control and Resistance in the Realm of Leisure
Courtship: Changing Rituals for Modern Life

CHAPTER THREE 133
Consumerism and the Rubáiyát

Too Much and Never Enough: Rubáiyát Mania
Production and Consumption in the Modern Middle Class

CHAPTER FOUR 161
Omar Sells: Advertisements Based on the Rubáiyát

Parody-Advertisements
Advertising Schemes

CHAPTER FIVE 185
The Rubáiyát as Doctrine, or “What Would Omar Do?”

Religious Climate
The Rubáiyát as Doctrine: Problems of Interpretation
In Search of Omar Khayyám
Khayyám’s Skepticism and the Lure of Modern Science
The Question of Immortality
The Triumph of Free Will over Fate

CONCLUSION 223

APPENDIX 228
Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, first and fifth editions

ILLUSTRATIONS 239

BIBLIOGRAPHY 317

CURRICULUM VITAE

FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and Neglect

FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Popularity and Neglect. Edited by Adrian Poole, Christine van Ruymbeke, William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. Anthem Press, 2011.
240 p. ISBN 9780857287816.

Summary

This volume of essays is based on a conference held in July 2009 at Trinity College, Cambridge to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Edward FitzGerald (1809) and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of his ‘Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám’ (1859). The ‘Rubáiyát’, loosely based on the verses attributed to the eleventh-century Persian writer, Omar Khayyám, has become one of the most widely known poems in the world, republished virtually every year from 1879 (the year of FitzGerald’s fourth edition) to the present day, and translated into over eighty different languages. And yet, with a few exceptions, it has been systematically ignored or at best patronized by the academic establishment. This volume sets out to explore the reasons for both the popularity and the neglect. Broadly speaking, the essays are divided into two main blocks. The first six chapters focus primarily on the poem’s literary qualities (including consideration of its place in the tradition of verse translation into English, the idea of ‘nothingness’, and ‘syntax and sexuality’), the last five on aspects of its reception (including essays on the late-Victorian Omar Khayyám Club, on American parodies, and on the many illustrated editions). They are linked by three essays that address key ‘facilitators’ in the poem’s transmission (including the significant but neglected issue of cheap reprints)

Contents

Preface; Notes on Contributors; List of Illustrations; Introduction – Adrian Poole; 1. Edward FitzGerald, Omar Khayyám, and the Tradition of Verse Translation into English – Dick Davis; 2. Much Ado about Nothing in the Rubáiyát – Daniel Karlin; 3. Common and Queer: Syntax and Sexuality in the Rubáiyát – Erik Gray; 4. A Victorian Poem: Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám – Clive Wilmer; 5. FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and Agnosticism – Marta Simidchieva; 6. The Similar Lives and Different Destinies of Thomas Gray, Edward FitzGerald and A. E. Housman – Anthony Briggs; 7. The Second (1862 Pirate) Edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám – John Drew; 8. Edward Heron-Allen: A Polymath’s Approach to FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám – Garry Garrard; 9. ‘Under Omar’s subtle spell’: American Reprint Publishers and the Omar Craze – John Roger Paas; 10. The Imagined Elites of the Omar Khayyám Club – Michelle Kaiserlian; 11. Le Gallienne’s Paraphrase and the Limits of Translation – Adam Talib; 12. ‘Some for the Glories of the Sole’: The Rubáiyát and FitzGerald’s Sceptical American Parodists – Annmarie S. Drury; 13. The Vogue of English Rubáiyát and Dedicatory Poems in Honour of Khayyám and FitzGerald – Parvin Loloi; 14. The Illustration of FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát and its Contribution to Enduring Popularity – William H. Martin and Sandra Mason.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. An updated bibliography

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. An updated bibliography. Jos Coumans. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2010. 250 p. ISBN: 978-908-72-8096-3

Summary

Since the collected poems of eleventh- and twelfth-century Persian philosopher Omar Khayyám were first translated into English in 1859 by Edward Fitzgerald, the Rubáiyát has become one of the most popular books of verse in the world. In addition to English, it has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Urdu, and many other languages. It has been published in numerous editions: precious volumes with bejeweled bindings, artist’s books, scholarly and critical editions, forgeries and fake editions, making it a perfect object for both book collectors and lovers of poetry. This comprehensive volume is the first bibliography of Khayyám’s classic work since the first Rubáiyát bibliography by A.G. Potter, which was published in 1929.

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Appendix I: Manuscripts
Appendix II: Bibliographic references
Appendix III: Statistics
Appendix IV: A word on Potter’s bibliography
Bibliography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
1. FitzGerald’s versions
2. Other translations
3. Multilingual editions
4. Miniature books
5. Miscellanea
6. Study & criticism
7. Interpretations
Indices

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A famous poem and its influence

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A famous poem and its influence. Edited by William H. Martin and Sandra Mason. London; New York; Delhi, Anthem press, 2011. xi, 170 p. ISBN: 9780857287700.

Summary

The book presents the text of Edward FitzGerald’s three main versions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in an easily accessible form, together with a non-technical commentary on the origins, role and influence of the poem. The reader is given a chance to evaluate each of FitzGerald’s alternative texts as a whole and to examine how the poet presented his texts to the public and annotated the verses. The commentary discusses the lives and work of Khayyám and FitzGerald, and recounts the fascinating story the publication of the Rubáiyát and its rise to great fame and popularity, including a look at the wide-ranging spin-offs the poem has generated in art, music and other fields. The editors use the latest research to analyze the poem’s worldwide influence during the 150 years since its first appearance and the continuing relevance of the poem in the world of the 21st century.