Ebook: The Art of Omar Khayyam: Illustrating FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat

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. The poetry in question is Edward Fitzgerald's version of the "Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayyam, 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". 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. Martin and Mason have produced the first serious attempt to examine the illustrated editions in detail.