The Art of Omar Khayyam: Illustrating FitzGerald's Rubaiyat [Hardcover]

William Mason (Author), Sandra Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2007

This book describes a phenomenon unique in publishing history -- a book of poetry, published anonymously nearly 150 years ago -- purporting to be the translation of an 11th century Persian work -- which has remained almost continuously in print and stimulated at least 130 illustrators attempting to illuminate the verses it contains. The poetry in question is Edward FitzGerald's version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Khayyam was a mathematician, astronomer and philosopher in 11th century Persia. Edward FitzGerald was first introduced to Khayyam's verses in the original Persian in 1859. Since then, there have been many hundreds of separate editions and reissues of the Rubaiyat, including many further translations of FitzGerald's work into other languages. Today, FitzGerald's Rubaiyat is one of the most universally known of all poems. It is also probably the most widely illustrated of all literary works. William Martin and Sandra Mason have produced the first serious attempt to examine the illustrated editions in detail. The authors tell the extraordinary story of the popularity of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat, and looks at how different illustrators have approached the task of interpreting the individual themes and topics of the fascinating poem. Although the book focuses on one literary work, it provides a history of the changes in book illustration, mostly in Britain and America, over the past century and a half. With some 300 color illustrations and covering the work of over 100 artists, it also provides detailed documentation on the illustrators and a bibliography of the illustrated version of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat. This will prove a unique reference tool for collectors and bibliographers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

TLSAttractively produced. -Robert Irwin

About the Author

Bill Martin and Sandra Mason have a long standing interest in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, particularly the interpretation of these quatrains by Edward FitzGerald, and the numerous illustrated versions of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat. They are avid collectors of the different editions of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: I. B. Tauris (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845112822
• ISBN-13: 978-1845112820
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,481 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ILLUSTRATIONS-a marketing tip, June 1, 2008

By 

Professor Emeritus P. Bagnolo "Slugger/BIGGUY" (DOWNTOWN NYC/Chic. NM USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Art of Omar Khayyam: Illustrating FitzGerald's Rubaiyat (Hardcover)

THE ART OF OMAR KHAYYAM: ILLUSTRATING FITZGERALD'S RUBAIYAT

Of course, Fitzgerald's translations were among the earliest and best and remain so, and the poem is riveting and the base of many ancient sayings used today by those who do not know their origins, for instance, the term "wine, women and song" was derived from the essence of the poem which ridicules what Omar believes to be hypocritical misconveyances by the clergy of his religion. Omar Khayyam was at once a poet and political agitator and some believe a member of a group of intellectual, and revolutionary assassins. Khayyam sets forth a philosophy of wine, sex and joy, more I believe to taunt the clergy with their often ridiculous views of anything men and women appear to desire, so Omar taunts the Organized Religious establishment of his era, of the 13th century with words which remain as true and effective now as then.

However, since it is a book about the ILLUTRATIONS, it behooves the publisher to tell us more about them.

The poem can be purchased anywhere for under $10-$15 dollars, so the price justification is for the four color printing of the many illustrations. As a collector of art books, I know who the market is for this book, it is mostly artists and those who love ART.

I am a painter Illustrator and have read Omar Khayyam since early childhood, and have a collection of various volumes of it with various illustrators, now my main interest is the illustrations. Therefore, I would only be interested in this book if I knew the following about it:

How many of the 300 illustrations are in full color?
Whose illustrations, which are the illustrators, at least a few of the more famous besides Brangwyn?
How large are the illustrations? If they are thumbnails, they are of little use to an artist buyer.

I, like the largest share of this book's market would only buy the book if it contained many large illustrations in color. Since I am a professor of art, I constantly seek reference books for my students to buy, but cannot recommend such books unless I see the illustrations.

Just a marketing tip!
Thanks