The Persian Poetry Channel presents the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
Charles Mugleston has alerted us to the existence of the Persian Poetry Channel. Publicity for the organisation indicates that “this is a social media channel which aims to make Persian Poetry accessible to the entire globe, by providing simple interpretations of the complex world that is Persian Poetry. The presentations cover the brightest stars of this intricate literature including Rumi, Hafez, Sa’di, Ferdousi [and Omar Khayyam].”
Typical presentations can be found in the form of YouTube films. Two recent episodes on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam are available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XXpLuT6zY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKZ1zbm5vNY. The presenter, Arash Nalchegar, speaks in clear Persian with good English subtitles. Details of the coverage of the Rubaiyat and of the Channel are shown in the descriptions below. We have not had time to listen all through but this seems to be a resource worth exploring – and a way of improving Persian listening for those who are interested. Our thanks to Charles for telling us about the channel.
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam – Mysteries of Creation
Episode 1. In this video, the first of the Rubaiyat of Khayyam series, Arash examines Khayyam’s worldview and the reasons behind it. It’s clear that his poetry was an extension of this worldview and was meant to get us all thinking. Watch this video through to the end as Arash presents an interesting biography of this world renowned poet and examines three of the first quatrains from the Rubaiyat of Khayyam as edited by Sadegh Hedayat.
Episode 2. In this video, the second of the Rubaiyat of Khayyam series, Arash introduces us to Khayyam’s perspective on religious certainties. With intelligent logic, Khayyam asks us to question everything we’ve accepted as a given and most importantly he wants us to then consider why we fight each other based on ideas, or rather, illusions we’ve imagined to be real and absolute. Watch this video through to the end as Arash presents Khayyam’s interesting perspective as he examines four more quatrains from the Rubaiyat of Khayyam as edited by Sadegh Hedayat.
About Persian Poetry Channel. Please remember, if you like the content, the best way to support our efforts is to subscribe to our YouTube channel and to interact with us. Be sure to leave us a comment about your thoughts on this post. And stay in touch in our YouTube community with any general comments, suggestions or criticisms. We aim to improve and that will only happen with interactions with our audience. PS Don’t forget to check out our membership program. Click on the join button to learn about the different levels and perks. Many thanks 🙏🏻 The Persian Poetry Team
New Illustrations for FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat
New illustrations interpreting FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam will shortly be on show in Brighton on the south coast of England. The artist, Lois Pawson, has sent us the following details of the Exhibition and her work in it.
PRESS RELEASE Rubaiyat Illustrations at Emotive Collective Exhibition. 8th to 13th February 2022, The Regency Town House, Brighton & Hove.
Lois A Pawson is an illustrator and designer, currently a postgraduate illustration student at University of Brighton, with the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam as the focus for her MA degree project. A selection of illustrations from her project ‘Fate and Fatalism’ will be shown as part of the Emotive Collective Exhibition in Sussex this February.
Of Perfume shall fling up into the Air”
Bearded Vulture – Silent Towers – Desert Garden
Lois’ project ‘Fate and Fatalism’ is a revisualisation of poetry attributed to ‘astronomer poet of Persia’ Omar Khayyam (1048 -1131), from the 1859 English translation by Edward FitzGerald. These four-line Rubaiyat poems reflect on universal aspects of human existence – life, death and facing one’s fate. At their emotive core runs the humanistic message to seize the day and enjoy life – because life can be all too short. Readers can interpret these poems in different ways, and this project is a work of personal expression, underpinned by expansive research and participation in international symposiums, over thirty virtual guided tours of Iran, and ‘method illustration’ experiments with ancient Persian crafts.
The Emotive Collective is a group of 13 artists and designers, some recent University of Brighton MA graduates, others, current students, who have allowed their individual journeys to lead them to unpredictable discoveries and the exhibition has many themes, but they are all connected by the urge to provoke conversation about emotive topics. The process/act of exploring individual themes has led each artist to experiment with a range of media and contexts, each searching for a way to ask meaningful questions and hopefully, to answer them. In doing so, the artists hope to open dialogue on universal issues and bring this into the public realm.
COVID Safety Measures & Prior Booking Requirements Apply
Free booking in advance via Eventbrite https://emotive-collective.eventbrite.co.uk/
Lois adds that she will have another show in July, showing the completed project at University of Brighton. There will also be a book presenting her final artwork. We look forward to seeing the completion of her illustrations.
An edition of Fitzgerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam with illustrations by Marie Preaud Webb was first published by James Hewetson and Son in London in 1907. Until recently, little else was known about this artist’s life and works. But now, research by Bob Forrest has uncovered much more information on a notable contributor to Rubaiyat art in the early twentieth century.
The full report on Bob’s research is published on his website, see http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/Marie_Preaud_Webb/Marie_Preaud_Webb.htm. He tells us that the artist was born in London in 1879 and died in Chichester, Sussex, in 1964. Her main period of artistic production was in the first decade of the 1900’s, mainly doing illustrations for James Hewetson and Son, the publisher of her Rubaiyat edition. Cecil Charles Hewetson, the ‘son’ in the publishing firm, provided the Foreward to the Rubaiyat edition, and, in 1910, he and Marie Preaud Webb were married.
Bob’s article provides an interesting discussion of the dates of publication of the different formats and reissues of the Webb Rubaiyat. He also shows us a detailed set of images from these books and some of the other work done by Webb for the Hewetsons. The most notable item among the latter was an edition of Carinal Newman’s The Dream of Gerontius, in formats not very dissimilar from that of the Rubaiyat which appeared at roughly the same time. Bob also documents the wider operations of the Hewetson firm, and the decline of the firm after the death of the founder, James Hewetson, in 1913, and the advent of war in 1914.
Once again Bob’s research has helped to fill in a significant gap in our knowledge of the history of Rubaiyat illustration. We are grateful to him for sharing his findings with us all.
More reflections on Siamak Akhavan’s Omar Khayyam Poems
Martin Kimeldorf, author, poet and commentator on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, initially responded positively to some of Siamak Akhavan’s new translations of Omar Khayyam’s verses (see end comment on https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2021/12/07/siamak-akhavans-modern-translation-of-khayyams-poems/). But, having had a chance to study the complete book, he has sent us these more critical reflections.
I grew up in the 60s and 70s listening to my father recite Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat before the
fireplace in our soft-carpeted living room. While it took some time to grasp the cadence and
rhyme of FitzGerald’s translation eventually it found its way past my brain, in to my heart. Now
fast forward to the year 2013 and I am facing an uncertain brain surgery. In that moment I chose
to armor myself by returning to read the poems Edward FitzGerald translated into his book The
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám. The words gave me the courage to face what fate had tossed up
before me.
FitzGerald’s translation has stood the long steady test of time. His version of the poems have
appealed to generations of artists, writers, and everyday people looking for meaning and comfort.
I found reassurance and solace in the poetry’s wit, skepticism, and the celebration of simple joys.
Some of the lines I clung to from three different poems are listed next:
‘Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:
Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire
To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,
Ah make the most of what we may yet spend,
before we too into the dust descend.
I believe I was able to make the most of what was left to spend, having published two books of
quatrains. The first was entitled Sipping From The Rubaiyat’s Chalice, My Journey with The
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyám and this was followed by Kibbles for the Soul—Poems and Pet
Photos About the Joy, Irony, Fatalism and Transience of Life.
Over the years I’ve read about many old and new translations. Many had merit but for me far too
many did not measure up to the FitzGerald-Omar masterpiece. Sadly the latest title by Siamak
Akhavan Omar Khayyam Poems, A Modern Translation failed on so many levels I could not
even finish his book.
I originally thought I’d like Akhavan’s poetry based on reading only a few lines in the early blog
mention. But Siamak Akhavan’s translated verse wanders and relies on esoteric words or outdated
vocabulary. I literally had to sit with a dictionary to get through the first half, and then I realized I
was in a losing game with my clock.
Here are a few sample lines:
Flowers shed, birds wail in amity.
Devotion to love is to not absolve.
What the hell are those lines about?
Too often Akhavan’s showy lines rely on a forced rhyme that destroyed any possible joy he
almost delivers, as in these lines:
Why worry if tomorrow’s aghast
Hold love’s cup, today won’t last.
————————————–
Our thanks to Martin for sharing these further thoughts with us. We should add our own regret that, while most Rubaiyat enthusiasts welcome any attempt at a new interpretation of Khayyam’s verse for the modern era, it has been hard for any of our commentators, including ourselves, to find positive things to say about this particular new version. This highlights the very special achievement of Edward FitzGerald in creating his seminal work over 160 years ago.
Futher comments on Siamak Akhavan’s Omar Khayyam Poems
Barney Rickenbacker has sent us his comments on Siamak Akhavan’s Modern Translation of Omar Khayam Poems. He writes as follows.
It’s generally agreed that the best English translations of Persian poetry come from those who know Persian and who are themselves poets. This of course applies when translating quatrains attributed to Omar Khayyam. Knowledge of Persian and at the least, a poetic sensibility, are necessary.
Next, I would argue for imagination coupled with a command of both the language and metrics to create a rich metric line. FitzGerald possessed all these attributes when he wrote his Rubaiyat.
Reading through Siamak Akhavan’s new translation of over a hundred poems attributed to Omar Khayyam, I am pleased that he chooses worthy examples from Khayyam’s corpus, primarily from the compilation of Forughi-Ghani. What’s more, the Persian text accompanies each translation. Good news for those of us who wish to compare text and translation.
My first impression is that Siamak Akhavan brings imagination to his translations. You might say that he has a lot he wishes to express. The problem is that he does not always express it well. He often expresses it poorly owing to his penchant for a forced aabb rhyme scheme, a preferred scheme that seems to direct him to use incorrect or ridiculously contrived rhymes. He needs a guide or mentor to help him. Then he might consider publishing a second, revised edition.
All Siamak’s infelicities will be quickly apparent to the reader. And rather than point them out, I wish to cite just one poorly translated quatrain, beautifully rendered by FitzGerald, not so by Akhavan.
Akhavan, p.11, “All comrades of the way parted,/with eternity merged, fate flaunted,/Light’s path we tried to unravel./Sooner some gained the mantle.” The Persian (my almost literal translation): “convivial companions all have departed/pressed by fate underfoot one by one/they drank from one cup in life’s gathering/they got drunk a round or two earlier than us.”
What to say here? He misses the simplicity and sadness of this quatrain, chiefly by departing in lines two and three from the Persian text. Compare FitzGerald (Stanza XXII4th):
For some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That from his vintage rolling Time hath prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to rest.
The Rubaiyat of Siamak Akhavan – Another view
Following on from the previous post on Siamak Akhavan’s Omar Khayyam’s Poems, A Modern Translation, here are some further comments sent to us by Bob Forrest. Please add your own comments below.
Akhavan hopes that his “Modern Translation” will be “a more readable and accurate version” than FitzGerald’s “outdated English prose” (p.ix), but to my mind his version is very far from being an improvement on FitzGerald. It is true that FitzGerald’s version was “an excessively free translation” (p.xiv). but that FitzGerald misrepresented Omar in picturing him as a “hedonistic / nihilist poet” (p.xv) as opposed to one who “used such code words as ‘wine’ and ‘beloved’ to make vague references to then forbidden esoteric and alchemical philosophies and practices” (p.x) is as debatable now as when FitzGerald took J.B. Nicolas’s 1867 Sufi-inclined translation to task in the preface to his second edition of 1868. As Prof. Cowell said of FitzGerald’s efforts, in a letter to W. Aldis Wright dated 19 July 1883, they are “too free to be called translations, yet what closer translations could ever give such a vivid idea of the original ?” (George Cowell, Life and Letters of Edward Byles Cowell (1904), p.283): certainly not Akhavan’s, it seems to me.
Looking at Akhavan’s translation, I am puzzled by some of his word usage, which sometimes seems to be governed more by finding a rhyme (frequently forced / clumsy) than making clear sense. Since Akhavan doesn’t number his quatrains, I will use page numbers for readers to locate the following examples, which are chosen from a much larger number.
On p.3: “Thus flowed to me this advise, / ‘once I was you, don’t surmise’” – “advise” should be “advice”, but this doesn’t rhyme with “surmise”, of course, “surmise” presumably being a reference to trying to fathom the “secrets for a life long” (rather than a long life ?) in line 2. All somewhat clumsy, it seems to me.
On p.8: “Mull not over what’s past and ran. / Praise presence, that’s the plan.” “Past and ran” is forced – “past and gone” would be better – but then “gone” doesn’t rhyme with “plan”. “Praise presence” presumably means, “Enjoy the present”, which makes much more obvious sense (and is “realm” supposed to rhyme with “psalm” in lines 1 & 2 ?) Then we have, “The many that rose and went under, / then flew asleep in vanity’s asunder” – but “flew asleep” not “fell asleep” ? And does he mean “vanities asunder”, and if so, what does he mean by “asunder” ? Or did he use it largely because it rhymed with “under” ? These lines, continuing the rhyme, are followed by, “Of their fate there is no wonder, / Their words lost in aeon’s thunder” – aside from rhyming with “wonder”, I’m not sure what “thunder” is doing here.
On p.17: ”Cosmic wheel’s a cycle of ether. / Galaxies are rivers of purified tear.” Aside from the lack of “The” in front of “Cosmic”, are “ether” and “tear” (which should surely be “tears”) supposed to rhyme ? Would “ether” have been known in Omar’s day ? Certainly “Galaxies” were not, until the advent of modern telescopes (beginning with Messier in the late eighteenth century.) Likewise on p.21 we have “Pleiades and Saturn flaunt their rings”, which could never have been written by Omar: the Pleiades are a star cluster visible to the naked eye, now as in Omar’s day, but it has no rings; plus the rings of Saturn were unknown, again until the advent of modern telescopes (Galileo first saw them in 1610.)
On p.27: ”Rise oh light, to heart’s aid go / With radiance absolve its throe. / Rinse my dirt in your brightness, / so a purer ash in clay they throw.” The verse clearly follows FitzGerald’s a-a-b-a rhyming pattern (though not his 10 syllable lines – Akhavan’s consist of wobbly 7-8-7-9 pattern.) Again, I know what he means, though who “they” are, I don’t know. But is this honestly an improvement on FitzGerald ? Certainly not for me.
On p.32: “No one masters infinity’s letter. / Dirt is the fate for flesh forever./ Vain one, if not in soil yet, know, / your time’ll come too, don’t glow.” I must confess that I find the repeated use of “dirt” instead of “earth” a little irritating and not very poetic, though that view that might not be shared by others. Does “infinity’s letter” mean “infinity’s depths” or what ? And what does “don’t glow” mean here ? Again, it seems, a case of finding a rhyme for “know” in the previous line has muddied the waters.
**********
I was curious to know what Akhavan had made of Omar’s various references to pots and the potter’s shop.
Here is the one on p.15: “A potter’s I passed a fortnight. / In dim silence sat pots in sight. / Roared one silent pot with desire, / ‘where’s maker, seller and buyer ?” Here “passed a fortnight” is clearly used to rhyme with “pots in sight”, and “desire” with “buyer”, but it jars that there is no clarification of “A potter’s” (a potter’s what ? Shop ?), that there is no “at” or “in” at the front of “A potter’s”, and that one of the pots is roaring “with desire” rather than with impatience (as in v.60 of FitzGerald’s first edition.) To my way of thinking, FitzGerald version is much better, Victorian or not.
On p.43 we have: “A pot I bought from the bazar, / whispered secrets of lands afar: / ‘A king I was once, on a golden throne, / but clay now, with deeds to atone.’” Not a bad effort, this one, though “deeds to atone” seems to be there mainly to give a rhyme for “a golden throne”, and “I am clay now” would be better.
Unfortunately, just as things seemed to be improving in the potter’s shop, along came this verse on p.44 to spoil things: “Passing the potter’s one night, / saw the master’s usual sight. / Crafting clay pots without vaunt, /of beggars’ crud and kings’ flaunt.” No “I” in front of “saw” is again a minor irritation, and does “the master’s usual sight” mean “the potter’s shop in its usual state” ? Using “vaunt” to rhyme with “flaunt”, and with neither word used in a correct sense, just doesn’t work. And “crud” ? Not for me, I’m afraid.
**********
I freely admit to being the sort of person who cannot see anyone playing Sherlock Holmes other than Basil Rathbone, or anyone playing James Bond other than Sean Connery, but it is a fairly common phenomenon, I think, to retain a particular fondness for what one grew up with. Likewise, for me, no translation I have ever seen has ever come close to the magic of FitzGerald’s and to my mind Akhavan’s comes nowhere near.
Siamak Akhavan’s Modern Translation of Khayyam’s poems
Earlier this year, we posted several blog items relating to a new publication by Siamak Akhavan entitled Omar Khayyam Poems, A Modern Translation. The most recent post is on https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2021/07/29/omar-khayyam-poems-new-translation-now-available/. Since then a number of readers, including ourselves, have received their copies of the book and have had a chance to look in detail at the content of book. Here are some of our own reactions. Comments from others will follow. If you would like to contribute to the dialogue, please comment below, or send a short piece for posting to sandrabill@omarkhayyamrubaiyat.com .
Akhavan is aiming to ‘share a more accurate and relevant presentation of Khayyam … with modern english [sic] readers.’ In trying to assess whether he achieves this aim, we have looked at three specific aspects of the book. There are: the choice of verses attributed to Khayyam that have been chosen for translation; the presentation of the verses in the book; the content and accessibility of the individual verses and what they tell us about Khayyam and his thinking.
The question of whether Khayyam, the historical figure who was an astronomer, mathematician and philosopher, actually wrote any verses, has been much discussed elsewhere. Akhavan recognises the problem of selecting the verses, most likely to be by Khayyam, from the many hundreds that have been attributed to him. The modern author has selected 122 quatrains that ‘in my opinion are likely genuine Khayyam poems, based on my own familiarity with Omar Khayyam’s style and mindset and with Persian literature and poetic mysticism.’ In his book Akhavan does not quote specific sources for his selection, but, in a private communication, he has indicated that he drew on the widely accepted work of Foroughi and Ghani, and Sadeq Hedayat, as well as a number of other recent American and Iranian experts on Khayyam.
Having made his selection of Persian verses, Akhavan had the problem of how to present them in his English version. Here he made two critical decisions, neither of which is justified in his Preface or Introduction. First he chose not to follow the AABA rhyming scheme of the original Persian which was also adopted by many earlier translators. Instead his English verses are mostly simple rhyming couplets, which, for us, create a significantly different effect from the original. Second, there is the question of the order in which to present the verses. The original Persian verses are normally alphabetical, based on the end rhyme, which achieves a certain randomisation of content, consistent with the idea that each rubai is an entity on its own. Some translators have followed this Persian order, others have grouped the verses by subject matter, while FitzGerald, whose work Akhavan uses as a critical foil for his own, chose to create a specific order generally based on the passage of time through the day from morning to evening. In fact, Akhavan does not tell us the basis for the final order of verses in the book, nor is it easy to find any obvious grouping by subject theme. The reader is left to pick and choose individual verses at will, perhaps an intentional effect and closer to the original Persian. But we feel that the new, non-Persian, reader, with no previous knowledge of Khayyam’s work or other translations, would be rather bemused by this set of unrelated verses. One technical complaint about this approach is that it is very difficult to find individual verses again within the 122 quatrains shown, given that the verses have not been numbered or separately identified in any way.
Finally we come to the content of the individual verses and whether this is a ‘more readable and accurate version’ of Khayyam’s thinking for modern readers. We have compared a few of Akhavan’s English verses first with what we know to be fairly literal translations (by Edward Heron-Allen in 1898/99), and then with Edward FitzGerald’s. Matching up the Persian originals for different translations is not easy but some comparisons are shown at the end (a few more are available). Our reactions from this limited exercise, is that Akhavan’s ‘modern translation’ cannot really be called a ‘translation’ in any literal sense. Just as FitzGerald produced a version of the Persian verses, rendering what he saw as the sense of the original into good English verse of his time, so Akhavan has tried to do something similar for today’s world.
Unfortunately we do not think that Akhavan has achieved his expressed aim. He has used reliable and accepted sources but his adoption of an alternative rhyming pattern fails to give an authentic feel of Khayyam’s quatrains, and we are worried about the lack of any guide to his intentions in selecting how he presents the quatrains to his readers. The content of the verses that Akhavan has produced rightly reflects his own interpretation of Khayyam’s quatrains and thinking. But we have considerable difficulty with his use of the English language and the quality of his verse. This point will be taken up by other reviewers in later blog posts. Quite radical modern interpretations of early Persian poets like Rumi have been notably popular among younger audiences; some versions, like those by Coleman Barks, have a very direct and modern appeal. But Khayyam’s more abstract quatrains are difficult to present and, to us as readers, some of Akhavan’s verses have non-sequiturs in the English which makes them even more obscure than they need to be.
Despite these comments, we welcome Akhavan’s attempt to bring the Rubaiyat to new audiences. And we look forward to finding out the response of readers of a younger generation.
Two examples of different translations
(The original Persian quatrains can be found by reference to the relevant pages in Akhavan’s book or to the numbered quatrains for FitzGerald’s 3rd edition in Heron-Allen 1899.)
A manuscript version of the Rubaiyat prepared by John Tearle
Roger Paas has sent us information about an unknown (at least to us) fine copy of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that was recently for sale on AbeBooks. Thanks to Roger for this. The volume is a one-off manuscript edition calligraphed, illuminated and illustrated by John Tearle, whom the bookseller describes as an American designer, illuminator and publisher. The manuscript is no longer available, but its qualities are worth a mention. The bookseller’s description, slightly edited, is shown below, together with some specimen pages. This is yet another example of the creative response to the Rubaiyat in the early 20th century; it was produced in 1910. We should be interested to know whether other readers have heard of John Tearle and/or this MS. Please comment below if you can add to what is known.
THE RUBÁIYÁT
(ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM – MODERN). TEARLE, JOHN, Scribe and Illuminator. OMAR KHAYYAM Publication Date: 1910
From Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA) (McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.)
Description:
228 x 152 mm. (9 x 6″). 2 leaves of Japanese vellum at the front and back, and 20 vellum leaves of text (of which, 37 written on and 3 pages blank). Single column, 24 lines in an attractive, uncluttered calligraphic hand.Translated by Edward FitzGerald. Original stiff vellum. In (slightly frayed) red linen dust jacket and red straight-grained morocco slipcase with gilt titling on spine.
Main body of the text in black ink, but ILLUMINATED THROUGHOUT BY JOHN H. TEARLE, TITLE PAGE WITH FOLIATE INITIAL “R” ON A BURNISHED GOLD GROUND extending into a half border, the whole decorated with red and purple flowers and with green, orange, red, blue, and purple acanthus leaves on a ground of burnished gold, FACING PAGE WITH OPULENT THREE-QUARTER BORDER FORMED BY A GRAPE VINE with green and gold leaves and succulent purple fruit, THE OPENING WORD “WAKE” IN RAISED GOLD on the top of the border, AND, AT THE BOTTOM, A LARGE OVAL MINIATURE (approximately 55 x 70 mm.) SHOWING AN ONION-DOMED PALACE.
Each verse of the text with three-line opening initial in colors and/or gold and embellished with elaborate penwork in a vaguely Oriental style, half a dozen with more elaborate leafy extensions, and two pages with leaves or other ornaments extending the length of the border.
FINAL PAGE OF TEXT WITH six-line initial in colors on burnished gold and with A LARGE ROUND MINIATURE (70 mm. in diameter) of a beautiful Persian maiden in a moonlit garden. In pristine condition. Considerably longer than most modern illuminated manuscripts, this is an immaculate book with initials and other embellishments that beautifully reflect its Persian setting. The miniatures have an exotic quality, with lush gardens, distant minarets, and Oriental architecture. The overall effect evokes the exuberance, beauty, and passion associated with FitzGerald’s lush and lilting translation.
Highly praised by Tennyson, this 12th century classic appealed strongly to Victorian and Edwardian sensibilities. First printed, anonymously, in 1859, it became immensely popular and went through a great many editions. Englishman Edward FitzGerald (1809-93) devoted most of his adult life to literature, especially translation, and the “Rubáiyát” remains his chief work and enduring contribution to world literature.
American designer, illuminator, and publisher John Tearle (b. 1868) was born in Britain, and served a seven-year apprenticeship there to learn the art of illumination. This appears to be one of the luxury books he produced after ending his business relationship with Ross Turner in 1903. The first opening here is very striking, the manuscript is in outstanding condition, and–at 40 pages–it is a substantial piece of excellent work. SIGNED in the colophon by John H. Tearle. (Seller Inventory # ST17129-043)
Some new presentations of the Rubaiyat by Austin Torney
We have received a note from Austin Torney about his latest versions of his work on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. We quote his descriptions below. Of special note is his production of what he calls ‘The restored private Jewett edition of the Rubaiyat’, which is mentioned towards the end of the note. Jewett’s MS version of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat has been the subject of earlier posts on the blog, notably https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2017/08/29/a-rubaiyat-illustrated-by-edward-taylor-jewett/.
Austin writes as follows.
Here is the essential illustrated version PDF of ‘The Expanded Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam via its Parallel Interleaved’, as cut to fit in one volume in a 11×8.5 800 page book, for download, at 150 dpi, 400 megabytes, which is fine enough to be viewed onscreen. https://austintorney428445949.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/rubequal-hole-1-3-11.25-jpg-ess-284-150-dpi.pdf
It may take a minute to download and then one can look at it and also save it by the usual means. It is a kind of mostly the best of the two volume version. One would only need to buy the book if one likes content in a book form, otherwise it’s best to save money view it for free as a PDF.
[Here are] fantastic long videos of it all, plus more not in the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnkPD5yYFqM and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OfHVe2k_wQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGfuSv7Lx8g
[And] here is the full text 6×9 version PDF, with some grayscale illustrations: https://austintorney428445949.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/rubequal-6×9-text-only.pdf.
Full text book if to buy: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/austin-torney/the-expanded-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-via-its-parallel-interleaved-lulu-11×85/hardcover/product-6e55yp.html?page=1&pageSize=4
[A final] bonus: The restored private Jewett edition of the Rubaiyat. PDF: https://austintorney.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/jewett-8.75-jpg-150-dpi.pdf.
To buy the Jewett book: https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/austin-torney/the-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam-jewett-restored/hardcover/product-1mkmkzpd.html?page=1&pageSize=4
[And a] video: https://vimeo.com/351528945
Previous posts about Austin Torney’s work on the Rubaiyat can be accessed via the search function. The latest is on https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/a-further-post-from-austin-torney/.
A discussion of the Quarantine Quatrains
A new set of Rubaiyat, produced during the first lockdown in the UK in 2020 by Malcom Guite and Roger Wagner, was the subject of a couple of blog posts last year. The most recent of these posts is https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/prints-from-the-quarantine-quatrains/. For many people, these Quarantine Quatrains summarised well the shock and suffering caused by the arrival and spread of Covid 19.
We have now been told about a short video produced in summer 2020 in which the author and illustrator of these quatrains discuss how the verses and pictures came to be produced. Malcom Guite also reads two sections from the book. The video is well worth looking at. It is available on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC5JxnjFoyQ. It is also heartening to know that the profits from the original booklet and subsequent separate production of some extra prints from the illustrations raised a total of £7,700 which was given as a donation to the Careworkers Charity in the UK. Congratulations to all concerned.
Omar Khayyam Rubaiyat 