COVE

If you were to seek out a 1942 copy of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, translated by Edward FitzGerald and presented by Willy Pogány, you would find two different editions that fit this description. The first would be an incredibly ornate version bound in red leather, decoratively tooled and elaborately gilded. The second would be the edition housed in the Special Collections & Archives Research Center at Oregon State University. This version is far less flashy, understated while still holding a sense of esteem. The book is bound in red cloth; the title on the cover and the spine are both stamped in gold gilt, but the lettering is in simple calligraphy, and the arabesque on the front is not overly complex. The edges are not gilt, but instead top dyed red. This is where the differences end. The interior of these two editions are exactly the same—elaborate frontispieces and title pages, twenty illustrations, and each quatrain provided an entire page to shine—all designed by Willy Pogány and beautifully printed. What explanation might there be for the difference in bindings?

Before 1931, most of the American public did not read books, or at least did not own them. Hardcover books were not readily available; anyone living outside of a major urban area had to order them out of a catalogue. The vast majority of those titles cost over two dollars—an indulgence for many, a completely prohibitive cost for most. But in 1939, Pocket Books and Penguin Books changed everything. Suddenly inexpensive paperbacks flooded the market, leading to a boom in readership of pulpy mysteries and cheap westerns. David McKay Company, the publisher of our aforementioned gilded editions, was no stranger to this practice. The David McKay Company sought to appeal to all readership markets. They published comics and pocket books, but they also published the first collected works of Shakespeare, put out children’s books, and, of course, worked with fine printers like the Beck Engraving Company to put out two versions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám that honored the long, esteemed history of bookmaking. One of those editions was extravagant, elaborate; the other (the version we have here) was elevated, but slightly more accessible.

As stated above, both editions feature the same folio of pages, printed in gravure by the Beck Engraving Company. In a pamphlet published by the company in 1950, gravure is described as a form of intaglio, wherein metal plates are etched by hand or with acid, then covered with ink and pressed to the page in order to produce a print. One chief difference between the two practices is that intaglio is a creative process, while gravure is a secondary art meant only for reproduction. Another is that depth of tone in intaglio printing is achieved by proximity and density of lines, whereas in gravure printing, tone is achieved by etching wells rather than lines. Dark tones are achieved by etching deeper wells, while lighter tones correspond to shallow wells. The process creates stunning, precise reproductions, even of photographs. On the copyright page, the printer specifies that the book was printed in “Beck Gravure,” and it seems that name was only a proprietary claim on what is today known as sheet-fed gravure. This is a mechanical development that made gravure printing—traditionally a practice done by hand—much faster and more affordable. The Beck Engraving Company was one of the first sheet-fed gravure plants in the United States, which enabled them to print efficiently at large scale.

Subsequently, The Beck Engraving Company remained a frontrunner in the art book industry until their eventual acquisition and dissolution in the late 1950s, which made them a natural choice for Willy Pogány’s stunning illustrations in this 1942 edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

Works Cited

Appelbaum, Yoni. “Publishers Gave Away 122,951,031 Books during World War II.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 24 Apr. 2015, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/publishers-gave-away-122951....

Facts You Should Know about Beck Gravure in Relation to Its Background, Technique, and Application as a Medium of Fine Printing. Beck Engraving Company, 1950. “Pocket Classics (Mckay).” A Series of Series, seriesofseries.com/pocket-classics-mckay/. Accessed 28 May 2025.

“Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám in English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald .”

Whitmore Rare Books, David McKay Co., www.whitmorerarebooks.com/pages/books/6419/fine-binding-maurin-willy-pog.... Accessed 28 May 2025.