A fictional letter to Kenneth Teter, from Dr. Sigurd H. Peterson
Sunday, January 15, 1956
Dear Ken,
This book is both a gift to congratulate you for obtaining your post as a Vancouver City Councilman, and as a thank-you gift in my last year here at Oregon State College before I retire to the coast. I know you have become fond of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, and I wanted to give you something special to add to your collection. As Untermeyer says, and as you soon shall read, “It is gayety as well as gusto that make the Rubáiyát the perfect companion” (xx).
This edition may not be as ornate as some in your possession, with its simple cloth cover and plain slip case, but I hoped the art it contains would be of interest to you, as I know you to be quite the aesthete. The illustrations within this edition are not only stunning, but authentic, as the artist himself is Persian and trained in Teheran. I also believed you might find its background silhouette illustrations of interest, as they truly do convey the magic and mysticism of the text. This edition’s exceptionality does not stop at its art; it contains two separate of FitzGerald’s translations – the first edition and a combined third, fourth, and fifth edition – as well as a preface by the one and only Louis Untermeyer (I admit to some self-indulgence on this front in my choice of edition).
I do hope you will enjoy reading this Rubáiyát when you find yourself free of city or familial duty. There is always much to do, and I know you will always want to get things done, but as your favorite poem says:
A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of bread—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!
Take some time to do nothing but read. I certainly plan to upon my retirement – although I suspect my “Book of Verses” may be the Poetic Edda rather than the Rubáiyát.
Congratulations again, and take care,
Sigurd