RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

London: Susan Allix, 1973. NO. 21 OF 25 SPECIAL COPIES BOUND BY SUSAN ALLIX (from a total edition of 75). 275 x 200 mm. (10 3/4 x 7 3/4"). [23] French-fold leaves.Translated by Edward FitzGerald.
EXCELLENT RED MOROCCO BY SUSAN ALLIX, upper cover tooled in gilt with a geometric net pattern interspersed with small stars, smooth spine with gilt lettering, endpapers speckled with red, aqua, and gilt, edges uncut. In a red cloth slipcase. WITH 27 EMBOSSED ETCHINGS BY SUSAN ALLIX, each with tissue guard and signed by Allix. Colophon signed by Allix and with inscription to Mimi and Arnold Elkind (see below). ◆A couple faint (naturally occurring?) marks on upper cover, but essentially as new.

This is a beautifully packaged, very strictly limited modern take on FitzGerald's immortal work from book artist Susan Allix, who is responsible for the binding, printing, and illustrations here, with typography by Lewis Rouse Jones. According to the artist's website, "This book uses embossed prints to present a tactile set of pages that use geometrically inspired shapes to interpret the poetry." There were 75 copies of this edition printed, with the present volume being one of just 25 bound by Allix; she has inscribed it to two of her earliest supporters, Grolier Club members Arnold Elkin (1912-93) and his wife Mimi Weider Elkind (1916-94). Born in 1943 and educated at the Royal College of Art, Allix began her career as a printmaker before creating her first hand-crafted book in 1973. Mark Dimunation, then Chief of the Rare Book Division at the Library of Congress, wrote in the journal "Parenthesis" in 2007 that "those familiar with the work of Susan Allix know that her books launch you on a visual journey. Each book is a voyage propelled by color, texture, image, impression, and material. . . . Because she insists on creating the entire book--from letterpress to illustration to binding--her work has a certain recognizable aesthetic; a malleable signature that responds to the particular character of a piece, but is still unquestionably hers. Allix conceives each book visually. . . . The real narrative of her books is the flow of color and image as they move throughout the piece." Her works are held in the collections of The British Library, National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and many other public and private libraries. According to the biographical note in the finding aid for "Arnold and Mimi Elkind: Papers on Book Collecting, 1957-1993" at the Grolier Club, "Arnold Elkind's collecting focused on living printers, bookbinders and book designer artists, particularly artists who had maintained their own presses; he sometimes assisted them financially. . . . Elkind was a particular patron of the Pennyroyal Press of Barry Moser and of the artist's books and bindings by English designers Susan Allix and Philip Smith.".