Ronald Balfour and his Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
The edition of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, illustrated by Ronald Balfour, is well known and greatly loved by many Rubaiyat enthusiasts. One such is Bob Forrest, who has now produced an article on Balfour and his Rubaiyat. This summarises Bob’s recent research on an artist about whose background and career little was known until now.
Balfour’s illustrations for the Rubaiyat were published in book form by Constable in 1920. According to Bob’s investigations, the Rubaiyat was the first book to be illustrated by Balfour, who was better known as a designer, first for the fashion business and later in films. It appears that Balfour actually began to create his illustrations as early as 1913-14 when he was still in his teens, and there is something of a mystery about how he actually came to be given a contract for publication by a prestigious firm like Constable, when he still very young and with no reputation for book illustration.
In his article Bob discusses this question and tells us much about Balfour’s life as a member of higher British society; he was among other things a cousin of the British Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. Bob also provides many images of Balfour’s design work as well as a detailed interpretation of his illustrations for the Rubaiyat.
There is much more of interest in the article which can be found on the following link: http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/Ronald_Balfour/Ronald_Balfour.htm. As always, we are grateful to Bob for sharing his research with us all. In this case he has helped to fill what was a large gap in knowledge about an important Rubaiyat artist.
Seasonal Greetings
We take this opportunity to send all our readers and contributors seasonal greetings at the close of a difficult and stressful year for us all. The continuation of Rubaiyat research and the blog items submitted by many people have helped to create some sense of normality for many of us. We are grateful to everyone who has provided material to the blog through the year, and we look forward to continuing to publish the blog in what we hope will be more normal conditions in 2021.
Prints from the Quarantine Quatrains
Back in September we highlighted a new set of rubaiyat entitled the Quarantine quatrains – see https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/the-quarantine-quatrains-a-new-rubaiyat/. The people who produced this work have just sent us an update on what they are doing. Malcolm Guite and Roger Wagner write as follows.
This is just to thank everyone who bought a copy of the Quarantine Quatrains. You will be glad to hear that the whole edition raised £5,500 for the Careworkers Charity which we are told will have supported at least 11 care workers who have had to isolate as a result of Covid-19. Sadly as the pandemic still continues the need has not diminished, and to raise some additional funds Roger has made a signed print of four of the images from the book, ten of which have been signed and inscribed by Malcolm with the last verse from the Quatrains. The profits from these ten prints, once the cost of printing and postage has been covered, will be donated to CWC. (These 10 special prints have now been sold)
You can find details of the new prints at http://www.rogerwagner.co.uk/work/item/268/the-secret-garden-of-the-rose. The cost of the prints is £150 each (including postage and VAT).
Ceramic Mug(s) Modelled on E. J. Sullivan’s Famous Illustration
Joe Howard has sent us the following article about an interesting spin-off from the work of one well-known illustrator of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Edmund J. Sullivan’s 1913 illustration (Fig.1.) of the mug (jug?), accompanying quatrain LXIV, is well known by Rubaiyat enthusiasts. In his book1 about Sullivan’s art, James Thorpe comments: “The Omar Khayyam Club commissioned replicas of the mug illustrating verse LXIV. These were made by Arnold Bennet’s brother (Septimus) and used at their meetings.” There is no indication as to how they were used.
of quatrain LXIV
Enoch Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) became a member of the OK Club of London in 1912. Bennett (Fig.2.) was an internationally celebrated author who produced 42 works of fiction, 22 of non-fiction and 12 plays. On the 150th anniversary of his birth a bronze statue of him was installed outside the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, Stoke on Trent.
Septimus Bennett (1877-1926), was an artist and designer (Fig.3.) who ran a studio in Hanley, Staffordshire, where he created designs and made models (Fig.4.) of ceramic items3. He also collaborated with his brother, Arthur, by providing designs for magazine covers.
In support of the war effort Septimus relocated, without his family, to Sheffield in 1915. He was employed as a munitions worker at the Vickers’ Holme Lane works, remaining there until the end of WW1. Septimus regularly sent details of Sheffield life and of work in a munitions factory to Arthur, who used them in newspaper and magazines articles. Septimus also kept a detailed diary, which formed the basis of a book4 published in 2001.
I am surprised that I am aware of only one ceramic mug (Fig. 5.) modelled on Sullivan’s drawing. The illustration and this ceramic mug differ in that (a) the band containing the fleur-de-lis pattern near the base of Sullivan’s illustration is replaced by the last line from quatrain LXIV: “HE’S A GOOD FELLOW AND TWILL ALL BE WELL” and (b) the base of the ceramic mug is circular. Approximate dimensions of this mug are: 20cms tall without the lid and 28cms across the handles. The lid, not including the metal
extension at the top, adds a further ca 4cms. There are no identifying marks.
The known provenance of this mug begins with its ownership by John Henderson (1862-1938). Henderson was one of the earlier members of the OK Club, joining in 1894. He served as Honorary Secretary and Treasurer for many years5. Henderson was a regular attendee at the OK Club dinners and is listed as a member on a dinner menu the year before his death.
There is a strong link between this ceramic mug and the OK Club: the time-period is also consistent with it being one of the mugs mentioned by Thorpe. If this is indeed the case, its large size and approximately spherical shape make it unsuitable for use as a drinking vessel, for example.
Information (number produced, date of production, circumstances that led to the mugs being commissioned, how they were used by the Club etc.) about either this mug (or other copies of it) or those referred to in Thorp’s book, would be very much appreciated.
Relevant information may be added below as comments on this blog. Our thanks to Joe for sharing his research with us all.
References
- Thorpe, James. E. J. Sullivan, London; Art and Technics (English masters of black and white), 1948 page 31
- The Second Book of the Omar Khayyam Club 1910-1929, London. Printed for the members for private circulation, 1931.
- The Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review Nov.1 1922, page 1728
- Septimus Bennett Artist in Arms, A Sheffield Munitions Worker 1915-18, M Phillips & J Potter, The Pentland Press, 2001
- Henderson, John, Papers as Secretary of Omar Khayyam Club: Cambridge University Trinity College Library.
The Rubaiyat of Anne Marie
Some time ago, Bob Forrest came across an unfinished manuscript of an unpublished edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The MS consists of an unfinished title–page followed by 88 pages, including 15 fully quoted quatrains from the poem, and 15 illustrations. The title–page names the artist simply as “Anne Marie” and indicates that it was intended for publication by “Ben Abramson, Publisher New York City.”
After considerable research, Bob has managed to establish that the artist’s full name was Annemarie (sic) Bonnet, and that the MS must date from between 1944 and 1949, these being the dates between which Abramson operated in New York City. The MS, incidentally, is listed as #251 in Jos Coumans’ The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: an Updated Bibliography (2010), the entry being based on the catalogue of a London book–dealer who offered it for sale in 2006.
Bob has now published an article on his website about this MS – see link below*. The article has much more to say about both artist and intended publisher. It also features all of Anne Marie’s Rubaiyat illustrations, as well as those done for two other books published by Abramson, an interesting and well documented character in his own right. Once again Bob has managed to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of the history of Rubaiyat illustration and publication. Our thanks to him for sharing his findings with us.
*http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/Anne_Marie/Anne_Marie.htm
Sangorski Rubaiyat MS coming up for auction
Charles Mugleston has alerted us to the fact that one of the manuscript versions of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, calligraphed and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski in 1906, is coming up for auction in London on 19th November 2020. Sangorski produced a number of MSS of the Rubaiyat at this time, one of which, in a heavily jewelled fine binding, was lost with the Titanic. Another such was mentioned in a previous blog item https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2017/11/11/an-illuminated-manuscript-on-vellum-of-the-rubaiyat-of-omar-khayyam/.
The MS now being offered was apparently very finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in 1999. Full details of the item and auction can be found via the link below. The auctioneers’ estimate for the item is £7,000-10,000. Even if such a sum is beyond your purse, as, sadly, it is for us, it is worth having a look at the sale site to revel in images of the wonderful quality of design and craftsmanship that went into the production of this manuscript and its binding. A couple of pages are shown in the image above.
Thanks to Charles for the information.
Further booklets on Rubaiyat artists
In earlier posts, we have drawn attention to Bob Forrest’s excellent series of booklets which pull together his research on particular artists who have illustrated the Rubaiyat and the editions of their work. For more information on the first nine booklets in the series, follow the link at the end of this post.*
Over the past year, Bob has produced another five booklets in this series, bringing the total available to 14. These have been distributed privately only, but copies have been given to the main legal deposit libraries and some other libraries in the UK and can be consulted through them. The new booklets available are as follows.
No.10 Eleanor Joyce Francis (1904-1985)
No.11 Isabel Hawxhurst Hall (1887-1952)
No.12 Doris M Palmer (1896-1977) and her Publisher Husband
No.13 John Yunge-Bateman (1897-1971)
No.14 Gordon Ross (1872-1946)
The booklets are all very well produced, with many illustrations in colour as well as black and white. They can be accessed via the following UK libraries.
· the British Library,
· the National Library of Scotland,
· the National Library of Wales,
· the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford,
· the University Library, Cambridge,
· the Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
· the National Art Library, London,
· the Library of the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
If you can’t get to see this material at one of these libraries, the content is also available on Bob Forrest’s website http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/ .
* For our posts on booklets 1-9, see https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2019/05/16/more-booklets-on-rubaiyat-artists-from-bob-forrest/ and links from that post to earlier notes.
A contribution for National Poetry Day
Thursday of last week, 1st October 2020, was National Poetry Day in the UK. Charles Mugleston has sent us the following contribution to mark the occasion. Thank you, Charles, for sharing your verse with us.
Rubaiyat artists: A request for information
Danton O’Day is working on a catalogue of Rubaiyat artists and he is seeking information on some lesser known artists. He writes as follows: if you can help please comment below.
I’m in the final stages of compiling a catalog of the first artists of the Rubaiyat and haven’t been able to track down pictures for the work of the following artists: Edwin Edwards, T.R.R. Ryder, G.A. Pownall and L.E. (initials only). Another artist has been suggested but I can find no evidence they worked on a Rubaiyat. If anyone has any information on the artist F.J. Buttera (1900), I would appreciate it. Anyone who sends me pictures by the aforementioned artists will be sent a free copy of my book when its done—it will be the most complete document to date covering the work of over 180 illustrators and page decorators.
The Whitcombe & Tombs Rubaiyats part 2 – Hardback editions
Bob Forrest has now sent us as second contribution about editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam published ‘down-under’ in the 1940’s. He is again seeking additional information from any readers who possess copies of the books discussed. If you can help with Bob’s enquiry, please comment below and/or send us information via sandrabill@omarkhayyamrubaiyat.com. Bob writes:
The Whitcombe & Tombs editions covered in the previous post (see link below*) were effectively ‘paperbacks’. The present post deals with the three ‘hardback’ editions. Again, all are undated.
The front cover of the first is shown in Fig.1a and its frontispiece & title page in Fig.1b. This is conveniently described as R.G.T. version 1, R.G.T. being the initials of the (as yet unidentified) artist, which can be seen in the bottom left hand corner of Fig.1b. Though undated, the evidence suggests that it was first published in 1944 (see my online article for details ** – its imprint certainly dates it to 1944-1949.) This edition is characterised by the three domes & minaret on the front cover, and though Fig.1a is blue, other copies are in green. It would be useful if any readers who have copies of this book could supply details of their copies– colour of the cover and any dated gift inscription, especially.
The front cover of the second ‘hardback’ edition, conveniently dubbed R.G.T. version 2, is shown in Fig.2. Its frontispiece & title page are as in version 1, but its cover is characterised by its two domes & minaret. Like version 1, its imprint certainly dates it to 1944-1949, and the gift inscription in Gordon Cramer’s copy (as reported here in a comment on the previous post) dates it to 1944 – the same year as version 1 appeared! But two versions appearing in the same year ??? This is a puzzle, and it would be interesting to have readers’ thoughts on it, as well as information on any copies of R.G.T. version 2 that they own. (My online article (see link below **) was written at a time when the only copy known to me was that of Sandra & Bill, with a gift inscription dating it to Christmas 1948, suggesting, reasonably, that version 2 appeared a few years after version 1. This clearly now needs a rewrite – and in addition shows the value of pooling information on the blog!)
The front cover of the third ‘hardback’ edition is shown in Fig.3a, this being characterised by its three domes & minaret (cf Fig.1a). Its frontispiece & title page are shown in Fig.3b. The book is notably smaller than the two RGT versions (approximately 14 cm in height as against some 25 cm) and it is effectively a ‘hardback’ edition of Courage & Friendship edition, version 2, covered in the previous post, though there is no reference to the Courage & Friendship series in it (unless there once was one on a now vanished dust-jacket ?) All that is known for sure is that its imprint dates it to 1944-1949, so if any reader has a copy with a dated gift inscription, please do let us know. Likewise it would be useful to know if there are any variant covers of this edition ‘out there.’
Finally, I have not yet come across an RGT edition, version 1 or version 2, which has a dust jacket, so if any reader of this does have one such, please do get in touch. And if anyone has suggestions about who RGT actually was, I should also be glad to know.
*https://omarkhayyamrubaiyat.wordpress.com/2020/09/11/the-whitcombe-tombs-rubaiyats/
**http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/Whitcombe_and_Tombs/Whitcombe_and_Tombs.htm.
The Whitcombe & Tombs Rubaiyats
Bob Forrest has sent us the following contribution, which tells about editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam published ‘down-under’ in the 1940’s. He is seeking additional information from any readers who possess copies of these books. If you can help with Bob’s enquiry, please comment below and/or send us information via sandrabill@omarkhayyamrubaiyat.com. Bob writes:
In the 1940s the New Zealand firm of Whitcombe and Tombs published a series of Courage and Friendship booklets, #2 of which was The Rubaiyat (FitzGerald’s first edition.) There were two versions of it. Version 1 was certainly first published in 1941, with version 2 probably being first published in 1945. Neither version was actually dated, and nor were their various reprints, which is what makes their chronology difficult to establish. Both versions share a common front cover, the colour scheme varying with reprinting, and both have, or should have, a front inner flap bearing a listing of the Courage and Friendship booklets in print at the time of publication.
Fig.1 gives the general idea, this one being known to date from 1944 by its imprint and a gift inscription. In version 1, the quatrains are unnumbered, and the final quatrain is as shown in Fig.2. In version 2 the quatrains are numbered, and the final quatrain is as shown in Fig.3. (Note the decorative surround in the latter, not present in the former.)
In an article on my website, I have tried to establish a chronology for the Courage and Friendship series (which seems to have run to 11 titles by 1949), and to use it in dating the Rubaiyats. But this is tentative, and I would be very grateful if readers of this blog who own copies of either version 1 or version 2 (or both) could supply details and images of their copy / copies. Particularly key are the colour scheme of the front cover and the series listing on the front inner flap (as in Fig.1), plus any dated gift inscriptions (or, in the case of ex-library copies, any accession date.)
The link to my website article is: http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/Whitcombe_and_Tombs/Whitcombe_and_Tombs.htm.
The article also deals with other W&T editions of the Rubaiyat, but, to avoid any possible confusion, it seems best to deal with the Courage & Friendship versions first on this blog item, and to tackle the other editions in a future post.
