Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1909) examined by Michaela Bauer

The edition of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam  that I chose to look at is the one that was published in 1909 and “presented” to the Oregon State University library by Charles Fox. I chose this edition specifically because of the unique aspects of it.

For one thing, while the cover (see FIGURE 1) art has no illustration, it does have golden peacocks around its border and the title on the cover appears to be made from the same golden material used to make the decorative border. The backcover (see FIGURE 2) itself appears to be made of a light, (I would say “…

Cultural appropriation has been an issue for a long time and one could argue that cultural appropriation was at its height during the Victorian and Edwardian eras of England. In Barbara Black’s book On Exhibit: Victorians and Their Museums, Black argues that Edward Fitzgerald’s translation of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám being a common choice for a gift was a way to appropriate Eastern culture during this time as it was treated less as a means of substance for its content and valued more so because of the aesthetic value of the visuals and the overall vibe…

A text can provide a whole new context for a book illustration and there is no greater example of such than an illustration with text that I have chosen to analyze from the 1909 edition of The Rubaiyat. The image in question corresponds to the following verse:

XLVII

And fear not lest Existence closing your Account, should lose, or know the type no more;

The Eternal Sáki from that Bowl has pour' d

Millions of Bubbles like us, and will pour.

—Rubaiyat, Fitzgerald, 1909.

…

While it is tempting to believe that editions of books were always just mass produced in a factory ever since books were first invented, editions of books have their own unique qualities and there is no example more perfect than that of the 1909 edition of The Rubaiyat.

Since this edition was made in England during the year 1909, it was made during the Edwardian time period, which was a time period in which gift books were immensely popular. The most popular kind of books to give were editions of fairy tales and Christmas books that were often given to children (…

Dear Charles,

I hope that you will enjoy this gift of this middle-eastern poem called The Rubaiyat. It was originally written by an eastern poet by the name of Omar Khayyam, but it was translated into by Edward Fitzgerald.

The poem is about the eastern interpretation of life and its various subjects such as love and eventually death. There are two verses in particular that I think you will enjoy the most. The first of these verses is verse VII and it goes:

“Come, fill the Cup, and in the fire of Spring

Your Winter-garment of…