Khayyam, Omar; Payne, John

The Quatrains of Omar Kheyyam of Nishapour, Now First Completely Done into English Verse from the Persian, in Accordance with the Original Forms, with a Biographical and Critical Introduction [The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam]

London: Printed for The Villon Society by Private Subscription and for Private Circulation Only. 1898. Limited Edition. Half-Leather. Good / No Jacket. Item #2331907

Limited edition, #333 of unspecified limitation. Rebound, probably in early 20th century. Front joint repaired, minimal pencil marks on endpapers.

lxxi, [1], 206 pp. Leather spine and corners over marbled boards, gilt titles and rules, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. A verse translation of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by John Payne, who translated the title slightly differently than Edward Fitzgerald, whose translation remains the most famous. Payne has also included an extensive introduction providing biographical and critical information. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia". Although commercially unsuccessful at first, FitzGerald's work was popularised from 1861 onward by Whitley Stokes, and the work came to be greatly admired by the Pre-Raphaelites in England. FitzGerald had a third edition printed in 1872, which increased interest in the work in the United States. By the 1880s, the book was extremely popular throughout the English-speaking world, to the extent that numerous 'Omar Khayyam clubs' were formed and there was a 'fin de siecle cult of the Rubaiyat.' FitzGerald's work has been published in several hundred editions and has inspired similar translation efforts in English, Hindi and in many other languages.

Price: $125.00