Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald
Hodder and Stoughton, [not dated] circa 1919
The Dulac illustrated edition of the Rubaiyat was first published 1909 with twenty colour plates. A smaller format ‘popular’ edition in red cloth with twelve plates appeared in 1914, being reprinted several times (with variations in endpapers, ink colour, plate mounts, size, &c.) over the next decade or so and always difficult to date unless there is a helpful contemporary inscription.
For reference: Printed in Great Britain by Turnbull & Spears, Edinburgh [title page verso].
Hardback. Publisher’s red/orange cloth with gilt design and title to spine and front board. pp viii, 189, plus 12 tipped-in colour plates mounted on light grey card, and then mounted onto a darker grey card page. Size: 8 x 6.25 inches approx. (209mm x 155mm).
Cloth rubbed and worn to extremities; sunned/faded to spine and front board; bumped to spine ends and boards to corners. Offsetting to endpapers; wrinkle to frontispiece and tissue (appears to be a production flaw rather than a crease/fold; occasional dustiness and foxing otherwise pages generally clean; offsetting to plate mounting pages; page-block bumped to upper corner.
Overall, showing some wear but remaining a reasonably nice, clean copy – quite presentable.
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References
Ann Conolly Hughey, Edmund Dulac – His Book Illustrations: A Bibliography (Buttonwood Press, 1995)
Ambrose George Potter, A Bibliography of Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (Ingpen & Grant, 1929)
