One of the more intriguing entries in Potter’s Bibliography of the rubáiyát is number 139, the ‘Cyclostyle Edition’. There are several aspects that draw attention to this edition.
First there is the title ‘Cyclostyle edition’, suggesting an early adaptation of advanced office technology: cyclostyles were only invented in the early 1880’s. Second there appears to exist a number of versions of this edition, published from 1885 unto 1899 in various forms and formats, under varying titles and printed in varying numbers of copies.
A more fascinating aspect however is the interference with Holyoak’s work by Macmillan, the London publisher who had acquired the copyrights of FitzGerald’s work. They regarded Holyoak’s printings as a serious threat to their business and threatened him with a court action. The affair drew the attention of G.J. Holyoake who came to his namesake’s defence.
Finally there is the nature of Holyoak’s editions, which are issued in a limited number of copies, and being handwritten and printed with the cyclostyle, they were probably regarded as somewhat ephemeral printings. The various editions differ in a number of details such as misspellings or choice of paper. If copies have survived outside libraries, they are probably very rare.
The cyclostyle editions of the rubáiyát have never drawn too much attention, and until recently hardly anything was known about them. Only when a proof print copy was offered for sale a few years ago, which was purchased by a private collector, a search was initiated by John Drew and myself to find out more about the editions and the actors involved. These efforts resulted eventually in the discovery in the USA of a copy of the original “Book Store Monthly” edition of April 1885.
Book Store Monthly, April 1885
An extra feature to the story was to find out how Holyoak’s selection had its roots in an earlier pirate Rubáiyát: the so called Madras edition of 1862. John Drew has published about this before.
The story of this highly interesting piece of rubáiyát history is now recorded, together with documents and publications, in a pamphlet called The erring finger writes. The Leicester pirate cyclostyles of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, by Jos Coumans and John Drew (Cambridge Poetry Workshop, 2015). ISBN 978-1-871214-26-0.
A copy can be ordered at £ 6,00 from cambridgepoetry@hotmail.com or € 7,50 from info@omariana.nl.
devastating medieval plagues.
English with spiritual interpretation. Edited and translated by Bahman Solati. Boca Raton, Universal-publishers, 2015. 109 pp. ISBN: 978-1-62734-033-5.
Bodleian Library issued a reprint of the edition of the Rubáiyát that was illustrated by René Bull (1872-1942). Bull started his career studying engineering in Paris where he soon switched to the art of illustrating. When he settled in London in 1892 he started to draw for newspapers and magazines, and from 1898 till 1900 he worked as a photographer in India, Sudan and South Africa, where he covered several campains. Bull also illustrated “The Arabian Nights”, “The Russian Ballet” and “Andersen’s Fairy Tales”.
Michael Skau, emeritus professor with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, recently published an article in the Journal of Popular Culture titled: “Jack Kerouac’s Rubáiyát: The Influence of Omar Khayyám” (vol. 48, No. 3, 2015).
Jaarboek 7. 25 jaar Genootschap is now published, as always by Avalon Pers, Woubrugge. The book contains a number of shorter articles in which the members of the Club look back onto their membership. Jos Biegstraaten, president from 1990 till 2014, presents a short history of the Society. Hans de Bruijn ponders on the eternal and unanswered questions surrounding the origins of the rubáiyát. Jos Coumans explains how and why he started to collect the editions of the rubáiyát. For Marco Goud the exploration of life and work of the Dutch poet P.C. Boutens leads to confrontations with Khayyám’s influence on Boutens’ work he cannot evade. Rokus de Groot first encountered Khayyám’s poetry in the leather workshop of Stavros Melissinos in Athens, who presented him with a signed copy of his ‘Persian Rubáiyát’. Johan ter Haar is fascinated by the diversity of interpretations of Khayyám’s poetry that range from pure mysticism to sheer nihilism, and Remi Hauman looks at the rubáiyát as a collective, national oeuvre by various Persian ghostwriters, with international dimensions. For Dirk Meursing the Society was a useful and joyful resource while working on his own translation, and Asghar Seyed-Gohrab, now president, remembers how in his youth in Tehran he was fascinated by the secrets and mysteries that Khayyám’s verses seemed to conjure. Jos Biegstraaten finally describes how Khayyám influenced the work of the Dutch graphic artist Siep van den Berg.