William Henry ‘Bill’ Martin 1927-2024
It is with much sadness that I have to report that Bill Martin died on 17th February 2024. He passed away quietly at home, after a long illness, at the great age of 96 years. Many readers will know that Bill was a great enthusiast for the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and a long standing collector, especially of illustrated editions of FitzGerald’s versions. He was joint author of the landmark study The Art of Omar Khayyam, published in 2007, and of other Rubaiyat related studies. He was also one of the founders of this blog, and my beloved husband of 53 years.
Bill’s first contact with the Rubaiyat came in his late teens when he found a copy of the poem in his local public library in Chadwell Heath, Essex. He was intrigued by the verse and the underlying philosophy that it presented, and both remained important to him throughout his life. Some years later, he began to pick up copies of the poem whenever he visited the antiquarian bookshops which he loved. Gradually, in this way, an important collection was assembled. When he and I were retiring from our main profession of Leisure Consultants, and were looking for some project to occupy our third age, exploring and studying the world of the Rubaiyat seemed an exciting new field. The rest, as they say, is history.
Among the important marker points of Bill’s Rubaiyat years was the anniversary year of 2009. This celebrated the 200th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his first version of the Rubaiyat. For at least 18 months before, Bill was actively promoting the idea of a Year of the Rubaiyat to everyone he met, and he was delighted with the extensive programme of conferences, exhibitions, and other events that finally took place, many at least in part as a result of his efforts. His love of the work of Khayyam and FitzGerald was contagious, and he was always trying to encourage his younger family and friends to read and learn from the poem. The world of Rubaiyat enthusiasts and researchers has lost one of its valued members, and we shall all miss him.
TAMAM SHUD
Sandra
Omar Khayyam Rubaiyat 
Dear Sandra
My condolences to you and your family🙏.
Whether at Neishabour or Babylon
Whether the cup with sweet or bitter run
The wine of life keeps oozing drop by drop
The leaves of life keep falling one by one
Kind Regards
Javad
Dear Sandra,
My condolences to your family.
I subscribed this blog and happy to get emial notification from time to time.
I was touched by you saying Bill like to visit antique book store for Rubayait books, cause I used to do it as well in England.
Best regards,
Ning
Thanks for writing a gre
Thanks to all for your kind comments. It’s good how the blog brings us together. Sandra
It’s likely that not many books in the world have been acclaimed like the corpus of Khayyaam’s poems, have been rejected and despised, have been altered, have met with false accusations, have been judged and condemned, have been combed through and have found general and world-wide fame, but, in the end, have remained unknown.
Sadeq Hedayat, Taraneha-ye Khayyam/Songs of Khayyam, Tehran, 1934, the opening sentence of the preface (مقدمه) (translation BR)
These poems of Khayyam no longer remain unknown, not only because of FitzGerald, but because of the enthusiasm of folk like Bill Martin. And Sandra Mason, Bob Forrest, and all the contributors to our OKR.
Thank you Barney. You have done your bit too!
I’m so sad to hear this news – this blog has meant so much to me – first in seeking to rediscover, understand and illustrate the Rubaiyat – and second in realising how much the poems helped me come to terms with serious illness, self and family members. It must have taken a lot of work and passion for the subject to produce a blog of this quality – and the blog posts have made the ancient words feel current and multi-dimensional – which they are.