This edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám was published by Dodge Publishing Company in 1916. According to The Lucile Project, Dodge Publishing Company was originally founded in San Francisco, California in 1895 as Dodge Book and Stationary Co. before moving to Broadway, New York in 1899 as a publishing company. The firm ,who first started by manufacturing gift books and calendars, went on to publish more than 98 books. The company was eventually taken over by Robert M. McBride & Co. in 1927, which is now called The McBride Company Inc.
Dodge Publishing Company’s 1916 edition of the Rubáiyát is generously illustrated with Adelaide Hansom Leeson’s photographs, and uses a technique called photo-poetry to create a symbiotic relationship between the text and the illustrations. Hansom Leeson was born in Coos Bay, Oregon in 1875 and studied painting at the University of California in the 1890’s (sistersofthehelons.com). Between the years of 1892 and 1900, the artist exhibited her artwork at the California State Fair in Sacramento and San Francisco. Eventually she set up a studio space in 1902 with Blanche Cummings and started accepting commission on her portraits.
In late 1903, Adelaide Hansom Leeson began working on photographs to illustrate the classic poems, the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. She saw the collection of poems as a literary classic and a metaphor for her times therefore she decided to do the illustrations for Dodge Publishing Company’s editions. As stated in Photohistorica, Hanscom Leeson explained in a newspaper interview that she decided to illustrate the Rubáiyát because it presented “an expression of the struggle of the human soul after the truth, and against the narrowing influence of the dogmatic religions of our time.” The first edition of the Rubáiyát was published in 1905 and instantly became a sensation, even garnering attention from her hometown newspaper who exclaimed that “The Berkely Girl whose ‘Omar’ photos startle the literary critics” (Photohistorica).
Due to the new fame and high demand, Hanscom Leeson illustrated several more editions including this chosen one. In her work for this project, Hanscom Leeson uses poets Joaquin Miller and George Sterling as well as photographer George Wharton and other models. Her work stands out amongst other photographers and artists due to full color pages and photograph publications that depicted male nudity. Her success, however, was short lived due to a 1906 San Francisco earthquake that caused a fire burning down her studio. Original photographs and unpublished negative were all destroyed in this fire.
Work Cited:
“Book Information: Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement.” Book Information | Museum of the American Arts & Crafts Movement, www.museumaacm.org/bookinfo.php?id=2913&title=Rubaiyat+Of+Omar+Khayyam+-+Hand+Colored.
“The Lucile Project.” The LUCILE PROJECT - Dodge Publishing Co. LUCILEs, sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/lucile/publishers/dodge/DODGE.HTM#:~:text=Founded%20in%201897%20in%20San,was%20acquired%20by%20Robert%20M.
“The Rubaiyát of Omar Kháyyám with Illustrations by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson.” Photohistorica, photohistorica.myshopify.com/products/the-rubaiya-t-of-omar-kha-yya-m-with-illustrations-by-adelaide-hanscom-leeson.