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FITZGERALD**, EDWARD - Translated by: : RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM.**

US,NEW YORK.THE ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS CO.,INC./THREE SIRENS PRESS,[n.d.]

ISBN No ISBN.

US,slim 8vo HB,no (issued?) dw/dj,1st edn thus.VG++.Neat,handwritten black ink Christmas gift presentation inscrptn+date [[1932(?) xii] to top edge of ffe.Bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original weave textured brick-brown/red cloth boards,front board witha central impressed 3-line bordered vertical lozenge /cartouche panel with book's title within - assumed(?) once gilt,but now oxidised - if it ever was present,similar lettering to spine also oxidised - also if it ever was present,rear board plain with no design or decoration.Negligible shelf-wear or bumping to edges and corners - no nicks,tears,splits or fraying,a brick-red/brown+yellow(?) headband and off-set foxing to all the glued edges of both front+rear pastedowns - the free endpapers lightly aged but generally clean.Top edges trimmed but slightly aged/toned,fore-edges deckled (untrimmed) and also toned; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound,near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners would appear unread - apart from my own collation.US, slim 8vo HB,no (issued?) dw/dj,1st edn thus,13-193pp [paginated] includes author's introduction,a First version with 75 quatrains - each accompanied by a facing,full-page b/w line illustration by Edmund J. Sullivan,a 5th version with 101 quatrains but without illustration,and the reverse of the last page of quatrains a publisher's advert/catalogue list of other Uniform titles.Plus [unpaginated] half-title,b/w line illustated frntis by Edmund J. Sullivan,title page,a contents list/table,title separator page. The book is a translation of a selection of poems,originally written in Persian and numbering about a thousand,attributed to Omar Khayyám (1048-1122) who was a Persian mathematician,astronomer,and a philosopher who was not known as a poet in his lifetime.Later,a body of quatrains became attached to his name,although not all were his works. Essentially a hedonist and a skeptic, Omar Khayyám,through FitzGerald,spoke with both an earthy and spiritual freedom that stirred a universal response.As a result, the Rubáiyát became one of the best-known and most often quoted English classics. These verses lay in obscurity until 1859, when Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883),an English country gentleman,published a free adaptation of this Persian poetry. FitzGerald's source were transcripts sent to him in 1856–1857 by his friend and teacher Edward B. Cowell of two manuscripts,a Bodleian manuscript with 158 quatrains and a "Calcutta manuscript". FitzGerald completed his first draft in 1857 and sent it to Fraser's Magazine in January 1858. FitzGerald's work at first was unsuccessful commercially.But it was popularised from 1861 onward by Whitley Stokes and the work came to be greatly admired by the Pre-Raphaelites in England. After its discovery by D. G. Rossetti and others,the verse became extremely popular. He had made a revised draft in January 1859,of which he privately printed 250 copies.This first edition became extremely sought after by the 1890s,when more than two million copies had been sold in two hundred editions. The fifth edition,published posthumously in 1889,was based on FitzGerald's handwritten changes in a copy of the fourth edition,and is traditionally printed with the first edition. FitzGerald's text was eventually published in five editions,with substantial revisions: 1st edition,1859 with 75 quatrains,the 5th edition,1889 with 101 quatrains.Of the five editions published, four were published under the authorial control of FitzGerald.The fifth edition, which contained only minor changes from the fourth,was edited posthumously after his death,on the basis of manuscript revisions FitzGerald had left. The 5th edn believed the more mystical and philosophical of the two versions.A bibliography of editions compiled in 1929 listed more than 300 separate editions, however,many more have been published since. The believed,first UK edition with this illustrator,was in 1913.The illustrator died 1933.The above edn includes the famous illustration for Quatrain 26,later adopted by The Grateful Dead. Edmund Joseph Sullivan (1869-1933.) Born London,brother of illustrator James Frank Sullivan.Studied under his father,artist Michael Sullivan,in Hastings.Recognition came early with his appointment (1889) to the staff of the newly-founded Daily Graphic,but was fired in 1892 (it was suggested that his work was 'too artistic and unconventional' for the paper's proprietor).Indeed Sullivan was one of the most innovative and original of the b/w artists of the 1890's - the generation whose early careers coincided with the introduction of the photographic line block and halftone reproductive processes. His distinctive style was based on a freely drawn and very expressive linear 'handwriting',and he used shading both to describe form,and to generate a dynamic over the whole area of the drawing.He always worked within a defined rectangular format that served to compress and intensify the energy of his compositions.His inventive and often bizarre imagery could be simultaneously witty and macabre. His earliest book commissions came in the mid-1890's from publishers Macmillan and George Bell,and with 'Sartor Resartus' (1898) his reputation became established.He was particularly respected by his fellow-artists,many of whom apparently also envied his capacity to consume very large quantities of alcohol with no apparent ill-effects.He lectured in book-illustration and lithography at Goldsmith's College,and was an examiner for the Board of Education and the Joint Matriculation Board in Manchester.Elected AWRS (1903),ARE (1925); President of the Art Workers' Guild (1931) and member of the Council of the International Society of Sculptors,Painters and Gravers. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the lighter weight of this item,for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

US,slim 8vo HB,1st thus?
Not SIGNED.

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