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Het jaar van Omar Khayyám

Het jaar van Omar Khayyám. Janneke van der Veer
In: Boekenpost, 17 (2009) 101, p. 43-45

2009 is niet alleen het jaar van Darwin en Calvijn, het is ook het jaar van de Perzische dichter Omar Khayyám. Dit jaar is het namelijk 150 jaar geleden dat de eerste Engelse bewerking van aan hem toegeschreven gedichten verscheen. Bovendien is het 200 jaar geleden dat Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883), die voor deze bewerking heeft gezorgd, geboren is. Alle aanleiding dus voor een gesprek met Jos Biegstraaten, voorzitter van het Omar Khayyám Genootschap.

Ventriloquism

Ventriloquism. Marina Warner.
London Review of Books, 31 (2009) 7 (9 April)

Review of: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward FitzGerald, edited by Daniel Karlin. Oxford, 167 pp, January 2009.

Khayyam, Omar ix. Illustrations of English translations of the Rubaiyat

Khayyam, Omar ix. Illustrations of English translations of the Rubaiyat. W.H. Martin, S. Mason.
Encyclopaedia Iranica Online, July 2009

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam contain some of the best-known verses in the world. The book is also one of the most frequently and widely illustrated of all literary works. The stimulus to illustrate Khayyam’s Rubaiyat came initially from outside Persia, in response to translations in the West.

Khayyam, Omar x. Musical works based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Khayyam, Omar x. Musical works based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. W.H. Martin, S. Mason.
Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, July 15 2009

The enduring popularity of the verses in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is reflected in the large number of musical works they have inspired. Not all the works were small-scale pieces. One of the best-known large-scale compositions is Sir Granville Bantock’s (1868-1946) ‘Omar Khayyam’ (1908-10) for soloists, chorus and orchestra. It is a three-part work, setting all the 101 quatrains from FitzGerald’s fifth edition.

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Richard Dalby
Book and Magazine Collector (2009), nr. 314, p. 44-61.

Dalby presents a short history of the Rubáiyát and highlights the most important and best known illustrated editions, also giving prices that were realized at recent auctions. The article is illuminated with sixteen illustrations from these editions, mainly by artists from the first decades of the previous century, such as Greiffenhagen, Palmer, Robinson, Dulac, Brangwyn, Bull, Geddes and Balfour.

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