THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

1859-85. First Edition, Second Edition, Third Edition, First American Edition, and Grolier Club Edition. Five separately published works..
1) (BINDINGS - ZAEHNSDORF). RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1859) 204 x 152 mm. (8 x 6"). xiii, [1], 21 pp. FIRST EDITION, ONE OF ONLY 250 COPIES PRINTED, with the misprint "Lightning" on p. 4. FINE LATE 19TH CENTURY DARK BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, BY ZAEHNSDORF (with their oval stamp on rear pastedown), covers with French fillet border and arabesque centerpiece, smooth spine in one long and two short compartments framed by double fillets, middle (short) compartment with gilt lettering, turn-ins with intricate gilt tooling, mahogany brown silk pastedowns and endleaves, all edges gilt. In matching brown morocco slipcase. Verso of front free endleaf with engraved ex-libris of Roderick Terry. Potter 1; Grolier "English" 97. Spine gently sunned, title page with neat repair to small chip at fore edge, leaves a shade less than bright (as usual), occasional trivial smudges or tiny rust spots, but A FINE COPY, generally clean and fresh internally, IN A SPARKLING BINDING.

This is a handsomely bound copy, with distinguished provenance, of the first printing of a work generally recognized as the most important poem of the Victorian era. Son of a wealthy Irish landowner, FitzGerald had enough money to pursue a rather desultory literary career as a "genteel gipsy" (in Terhune's words) before beginning to study languages in middle age. He started his translation of the quatrains ("rubáiyát" in Persian) attributed to "Umar Khayyam" in 1856; according to DNB, about half of FitzGerald's final work paraphrases (rather than directly translates) portions of the 11th century poem, while the rest is original verse inspired by Omar. "The result is generally seen as being in some ways an original English poem, one that is much better known than Omar's poem is in Persian." (DNB) It certainly earned FitzGerald "a prominent place among the immortals of English literature" in Jewett's opinion. In 1858, FitzGerald submitted 25 of the "less wicked" verses to "Fraser's Magazine" only to be rejected. He had 250 copies published, anonymously, at his own expense, but had no luck selling them. Admitting defeat, he gave 200 copies to Quaritch; these sold so poorly that they were relegated to the penny bin, where Potter says they were discovered--and soon celebrated--by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne. Those copies that remained unsold when Quaritch moved to Piccadilly in 1860 were either lost or destroyed, but by 1861, Rossetti and his Pre-Raphaelite brethren, along with Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes, were evangelizing for the work, embracing the lush, lyrical verse that would move English poetry away from Victorian orthodoxy and convention. According to Day, by the end of the 19th century, "a copy of the 'Rubaiyat' upon an Oxford table was a symbol of sophistication. Today . . . it remains the most popular single poem of the Victorian era." Binder Joseph Zaehnsdorf (1816-86) was born in Pest, Hungary, served his apprenticeship in Stuttgart, worked at a number of European locations as a journeyman, and then settled in London, where he was hired first by Westley and then by Mackenzie before opening his own workshop in 1842. His son and namesake took over the business at 33, when the senior Joseph died, and the firm flourished under the son's leadership, becoming a leading West End bindery. The fine binding and condition here are typical of works from the library of Roderick Terry (1849-1933), who collected beautiful and substantial items chosen with considered discrimination. He accumulated items in various fields, but his library was especially strong in English literature: he owned the four folios, and he had strong holdings in Byron, Lamb, Spenser, and Milton. He also collected Americana, assembling a complete set of autographs of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, in addition to many literary items. Dickinson characterizes him as "a connoisseur in the grand old tradition of the 19th century. His library reflected his eclectic tastes and [his] cultivated good judgment."

2) RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1868) 206 x 162 mm. (8 1/8 x 6 3/8"). xviii, 30 pp. Second Edition. ONE OF 500 COPIES. Original printed wrappers. In a suede-lined folding box (measuring 240 x 180 mm.) of marbled paper backed with maroon morocco, raised bands, gilt floral sprig to spine panels, black morocco label. Title page with embossed bookseller's oval ("Sold by W. J. Pigott, Lexington, Mo."). Potter 129. Wrappers with small loss of paper at bottom of spine, a little foxed and soiled, but the fragile binding surprisingly sturdy and, in all, a remarkable survival. Internally with some faint creases and just a breath of soiling, but not only remarkably attractive for what it is, but remarkably attractive, period.

For its second edition, FitzGerald expanded his "Rubaiyat" from 75 quatrains to 110, making it the longest of the five versions he issued. As noted above, the first printing of 1859 did not sell well and seemed destined for the penny-a-copy bin at Quaritch's. However, Rossetti, Swinburne, and other Pre-Raphaelite poets praised it and, thus, brought it to public awareness, which created a demand for more copies. So, Quaritch printed a small second edition of 500, to be sold at a price of 1s. 6d. (Potter notes that when a copy re-appeared in their catalogue in 1929, it had appreciated sharply to £52 10s.) FitzGerald described his translation efforts as a "transmogrification" in a letter to his close friend Edward Cowell--who had taught him Persian and introduced him to Omar's verses--describing it as "very un-literal" and admitting, "Many quatrains are mashed together: and something lost, I doubt, of Omar's simplicity, which is so much a virtue in him . . . I suppose very few people have ever taken such pains in Translation as I have: though certainly not to be literal. But at all cost, a thing must live: with a transfusion of one's own worse life if one can't retain the original's better. Better a live sparrow than a stuffed eagle."

3) RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1872) 225 x 160 mm. (8 7/8 x 6 1/4"). xxiv, 36 pp. Third Edition. Original roan-backed purple cloth, flat spine with gilt titling. Potter 135. Fading on top of cover, otherwise a very fine copy of an edition very difficult to find in agreeable condition.

4) RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA. (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1878) 170 x 125 mm. (6 3/4 x 4 7/8"). [2], 3-28, [1], 31-65, [1], 69-78, [1] leaves. First Published American Edition from the Third London Edition. Blue-gray cloth with gilt and black titling, flat spine. Potter 200 (variant binding). Spine ends and corners a bit worn, scattered stains internally, but a very good copy.

5) (BINDINGS - R. W. SMITH). RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. (New York: The Grolier Club, 1885) 230 x 150 mm. (9 x 6"). xxii, 62 pp. No. 147 OF 150 COPIES. FINE BLUE-GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO BY R. W. SMITH (stamp-signed on front flyleaf), spine and corners of both covers very densely filled with gilt dots and various botanical tools, raised bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, original patterned paper wrappers bound in. With large color headpieces in the Moorish style after Owen Jones at three places in the text. Printed on Japon. Potter 211. Rear joint just a little rubbed, front joint worn and starting to separate, spine and board extremities faded to brown (as frequently with this color of morocco); still, a desirable copy, the elegant binding retaining much of its visual appeal, and the text without signs of use..