COVE

The Rubáiyát of a Scotch Terrier is a witty parody of the Rubáiyát of Omarr Khayyman written and illustrated by Sewell Collins, an American artist, cartoonist, and director. He was born on September 1, 1876 in Denver, Colorado (IMDb). He eventually moved to London, England, UK where he ultimately passed away on February 15, 1934 at the age of 58 (IMDb). Sewell Collins primarily wrote screen plays for the movies that he directed. His most famous works are Bracelets, The Devil’s Maze, and the Night Porter (IMDb). The Rubáiyát of a Scotch Terrier seems to be the only novel he published. This edition was published in 1926 by Frederick A. Stokes publishing company. The company was established by Frederick Abbot Stokes in 1890, and he acted as president until he died in 1939. After his death, the company’s secretary and treasurer, George F. Foster, became the present and eventually sold the company to Lippincott in 1943 (isfdb). Frederick A. Stokes also published another parody of the Rubáiyát called the Rubáiyát of Omar Cayenne by Gelett Burgess. In addition to this, the company also published several calendars with various animals (National Gallery of Art). 

The price of the novel, $1.50, is written in pencil in the front of the novel as shown in Figure 1. Furthermore, the title page also has pencil marks under certain letters of the title as shown in Figure 2. It is unknown whether these marks are from the original owner, or if these marks were made while the book was in OSU’s collection. These marks appear to be made on the stress syllables and it is similar to the marks a teacher would make while pointing their pencil under the title while reading it out to a class. It is unknown whether the university purchased this edition for $1.50 or if this is the price tag of a previous time.

This edition was probably more affordable relative to other gift books because it doesn’t have any stenciled leather, printed tissue, or steel plates which were all techniques employed in gift books to “attract attention and sales,” (MacDonnell). Instead, this book has a harder binding, which alludes to a “more disposable nature” (Birzer). This makes logistical sense because the book was probably targeted at children. This isn’t a book given to a young woman by a young man to court her, as most gift books were (MacDonnell), but rather to a child or a teacher. There isn’t anything extravagant in this edition that would make the price too unattainable for the average buyer, which makes it the perfect gift for a child for Christmas. Gift books have historically been given during the holidays, as a “popular gift book theme was the Christmas holiday,” (Birzer). However, this edition was also more affordable because there wasn’t a secondary illustrator. Sewell wrote and illustrated this edition. This meant that Frederick A. Stokes didn’t have to pay a secondary person for the illustrations. 

Overall, this edition has withstood the test of time and has survived despite the tendency of harder binding books being disposed of (Welsh). This edition lacks special novelties that would have made the price more expensive and less accessible to its target audience: children.

Birzer, Bernadette. Exploring 19th Century Gift Books in a Special Collection: A Collection Analysis. SLIS Connecting, 2013.

“Frederick A. Stokes Company.” National Gallery of Art, 1 Jan. 1970, www.nga.gov/artists/48290-frederick-stokes-company. Accessed 23 May 2025.

“Publisher: Frederick A. Stokes Company.” Internet Fiction Speculative, isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher.cgi?6965. Accessed 23 May 2025.