Exhibit:

Rubáiyat of Omar Kháyyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia (1888); Lady Lucy's Lover; Amanda Younglund

Preview of images

Cover: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia Front Matter Title Page Front Inscription: To The Fair Lady Lucy- From Her Lover- Dec. 1888 Back Inscription: “Remember me a little when thou comest- / To thine own country. Say farewell to me / Not to the thought of me- / Stephen Phillips / on “Ulysses”” Page 63 Text Warping
Inscription: To The Fair Lady Lucy- From Her Lover- Dec. 1888 Cover: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Gifted to the “Fair Lady Lucy” by an anonymous “Lover,” Oregon State University’s 1888 edition of Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia offers an interesting look into Victorian courting customs. While this edition first appears as a rather drab gift compared to other, more lavish versions of the coveted rubáiyát, it follows the expectations typical of Victorian gentlemen- to give an expensive gift would be seen as an attempt of bribing their sweetheart, so something simple like a book, flowers, or small chocolates were more acceptable (Meddings.) 

 

Despite its unassuming nature, Lady Lucy most likely did hold on, and treasure, this gift as the book contains another inscription in the back, quoting a play that wouldn’t be released until 1902 from a passage about unrequited love. 

 

A gift annotated and held onto for fourteen years is more than its dull appearance. 

Meddings, Alexander. “10 Strange Dating Tips from the Victorian Era.” History Collection, 23 Dec. 2021, historycollection.com/youd-get-hot-date-victorian-times-10-strange-dating-tips-victorian-era/.

Images in this Exhibit

Description of the Edition
Cover: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia Front Matter Title Page Front Inscription: To The Fair Lady Lucy- From Her Lover- Dec. 1888 Back Inscription: “Remember me a little when thou comest- / To thine own country. Say farewell to me / Not to the thought of me- / Stephen Phillips / on “Ulysses”” Page 63 Text Warping

Listed as Item Number 7 in Oregon State’s special collection of the 101 editions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, the copy gifted to “The Fair Lady Lucy” from “Her Lover” is a fourteenth American edition from Houghton, Mifflin & Co. published in 1888 titled Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia with an additional subtitle noting that it was “rendered into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald” (image 3), using Fitzgerald’s 1879 (4th) edition of translation. The copy also contains an “Ornamental Title-page and fifty-six magnificent full-page...
Gift Books and Orientalism: Me and Thee

Barbara Black’s chapter “Fugitive Articulation” in her book On Exhibit argues that the gift book tradition of the “FitzOmar” Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám demonstrates how the Western “cult following” (59) of the poem, and its typically glamoured encasing, appropriates and participates in the orientalist-view of the East, particularly Persia. Black focuses on the aesthetics adopted by Rubáiyát fanatics, discussing the bejeweled covers used to display the book, the collection of other Persian rarities and tokens in collection with it, the dinners for Rubáiyát ...
Close Reading of Text: Life After Death

While many editions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám utilize detailed images and ornamental page borders to paint a scene to the readers, often times versions of the poem relied on the readers’ imagination alone to provide a sense of peace and pleasure, even in the face of its more somber subjects such as death. As an affordable option for lower-class readers, Houghton, Mifflin & Co.’s 14th edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia lacks the ornamental adornments that many other editions proudly display so the emphasis,,...
How This Edition Was Made: Publisher Rights and Stereotype Errors

For Christmas of 1888, “The Fair Lady Lucy” received a fourteenth American edition from Houghton, Mifflin & Co. titled Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia. This edition was published in 1888 and was printed in octavo format with two colors: black and red. The fourteenth edition used Edward FitzGerald’s 1879 (4th) edition of translation of the poem, still maintaining the biographical information on both Khayyám and FitzGerald and endnotes. While Lady Lucy’s copy did not come with any illustrations, Houghton, Mifflin & Co. did include an advertisement in...
Archival Speculation: Christmas Gift, 1888
Inscription: To The Fair Lady Lucy- From Her Lover- Dec. 1888 Cover: Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

To the Fair Lady Lucy(1),

 

For this Christmas season (1), I am eager to impart this edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám to you. Do not be fooled by it’s drab appearance (3), for this book of verses will surely delight you in ways ornamentation could never. 

 

Your inquisitive and poetic nature is not something I have taken for granted, nor has it passed by me the similarities we have. While I am in anticipation to hear your thoughts and musings upon your reading, I’d like to first share some of my own favorite verses. I’ve marked them throughout...