The Rubaiyat of S.C. Vincent Jarvis

<< In 1911 the London based firm of H. R. Allenson Ltd published a pocket edition of The Rubaiyat illustrated by S.C. Vincent Jarvis. It used FitzGerald’s second edition and contained a frontispiece and 27 in–text illustrations in black and white. It is Potter #132. >>

The above is a quotation from the start of Bob Forrest’s latest investigation into little known artists who illustrated copies or verses from Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. In selecting S C Vincent Jarvis, Bob has identified someone about whom most of us knew almost nothing. In his usual manner, Bob has managed to dig out much useful information. In particular, he has established the dates of the artist as 1883-1967 and the fact that, despite the misleading public name of Vincent Jarvis, this artist was actually a woman, whose full name was Sarah Constance Vincent Jarvis.

The full write up on Vincent Jarvis is on Bob’s web site, and is accessible via the following link http://www.bobforrestweb.co.uk/The_Rubaiyat/N_and_Q/S_C_Vincent_Jarvis/S_C_Vincent_Jarvis.htm . In it, Bob tells us much more about the artist’s childhood and family life, her eventual marriage to a Frenchman and move with him to France. There is a full set of the images that Vincent Jarvis created for the Rubaiyat, together with Bob’s helpful commentary on them. And Bob has added further information both on the artistic career and other artwork of the artist and the background of the publisher H R Allenson, who turns out to have been very much a specialist in religious and spiritual books.

Altogether Bob’s work reveals an interesting picture of an artist’s life in the early 20th century, as well as bringing to our attention an attractive but little known copy of the Rubaiyat. Our thanks to Bob for sharing his findings.

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