The Ten Thousand Dollar Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám First Edition

The edition I chose is a facsimile of the first edition of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, translated into English verse by Edward FitzGerald. This edition, first published in 1859 by Bernard Quaritch in London, is a simple yet important version of one of the most influential poetic works of the nineteenth century. Unlike later editions that are full of illustrations, this version is plain, allowing the focus to be on the text and its historical significance.

This facsimile edition keeps the original’s small and compact format. It has 21 pages, making it shorter than some…

In On Exhibit: Victorians and Their Museums, Barbara Black explains how Victorian culture often treated foreign cultures as things to be collected, displayed, and admired mainly for their beauty. She argues that Edward FitzGerald’s 1859 translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is an example of this. According to Black, FitzGerald’s version of the poem was turned into a small, pretty gift book that people liked to collect, not because of its deeper meaning, but because it looked nice and felt exotic. She writes, “This poem’s value becomes inseparable from its pretty,…

The stanza “One Moment in Annihilation’s Waste, / One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste— / The Stars are setting and the Caravan / Starts for the Dawn of Nothing—Oh, make haste!” (FitzGerald, XXXVIII) (Figure 3) shows how short and fragile life is. It urges readers to enjoy the present before it slips away. This feeling of urgency is not only found in the words, but also in the book’s physical design. The plain brown title page (Figure 2) and the more elegant blue and gold hardcover (Figure 1) work together to show two sides of life: its simple beginning and its lasting beauty. Together…

The first edition of Rubáiyát by Omar Khayyám, translated by Edward FitzGerald, has a remarkable story that begins in a London bookshop. First published in 1859, this now-famous text was initially just one of many small publications produced by a bold and ambitious bookseller. Its eventual cultural significance owes much to the man who believed in it from the start: Bernard Quaritch. The story of this edition is about more than poetry, it is also about friendship and craftsmanship. The journey of Rubáiyát shows how even the quietest beginnings can lead to lasting…