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We open on a blustery day. A woman carrying balloons and party supplies down a cobblestone SoHo street is overcome by the wind, falling to the ground. A handsome young man who oh-so-coincidentally lives on that street rescues her, inviting her up to his place to collect herself. Once inside, we discover he is a rare book dealer, and at the conclusion of their first meeting he tells her to take a book as a keepsake, specifically directing her to a slim red volume, and instructs her to read this quote aloud:
“Drink wine… this is life eternal,
This is all that youth will give you.
It is the season for wine, roses, and drunken friends.
Be happy for this moment; this moment is your life.”
This is a scene from Unfaithful, the 2002 thriller starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere, and the poem Lane’s character recites is a verse from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. A poem first translated from Persian to English in 1856-57, the Rubáiyát has achieved a sort of cult status in the bookselling field (and not just because of its ability to facilitate illicit love affairs). While Unfaithful introduced this author to the Rubáiyát, its verses had already pervaded popular culture for over a century.
But the origin of this collection of poetry is murky. Edward FitzGerald (1809 -1883), a man of leisure from one of the wealthiest English families, translated verses shared with him by Oxford Professor Edward Byles Cowell. Cowell had discovered sets of Persian quatrains (a stanza of four lines) in the Asiatic Society library in Calcutta and in a 15th-century manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Both were attributed to a man most commonly referred to by his simplified name Omar Khayyám (1048-1131), a Persian astronomer and mathematician. Khayyám was not known for poetry during his lifetime, and the texts attributing the poetry to him were written after his death. Scholars continue to debate the authorship of the texts Cowell discovered, leading to many theories surrounding the number of quatrains Khayyám could have written during his life. Regardless of whichever theory one supports, the most common thread woven through each is that not a single scholar believes one person wrote the entirety of the 1,200 to 2,000+ quatrains found in the source documents and various editions of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (of note: the term ‘rubáiyát’ is derived from the Arabic root of the word ‘four,’ referring to the quatrains of Omar Khayyám).
And editions abound. The Rubáiyát is the second-most published book in the English language, after the Bible. There are thousands of editions/printings of the Rubáiyát, in dozens of languages. And the origin of this wildly popular collection of poetry traces back to an originally overlooked edition of FitzGerald’s translation published in 1859. The volume sold extremely poorly, with copies landing on the penny carts at Bernard Quaritch’s London bookshop. According to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet, painter, and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelites, these carts were where he discovered the Rubáiyát in 1861. Rossetti’s circle of Pre-Raphaelites helped to slowly increase the popularity of FitzGerald’s translation, eventually leading FitzGerald to publish three more revised editions during his lifetime, with his fifth and last revision released posthumously.
By the 1890s, over two hundred editions had been sold, totalling more than two million copies. The poem appealed to a wide array of audiences, and for good reason: FitzGerald did not create a faithful translation of the source documents, but rather wrote verses and created imagery to fit contemporary English poetry, which he knew his Victorian audience would appreciate. He picked over the quatrains, choosing ones he could mold into a more cohesive subject. FitzGerald wrote to Cowell explaining his efforts to impart Epicurean ideals into the poetry, emphasizing pleasure and happiness. Despite FitzGerald’s efforts, two dominant schools of opinion eventually formed; one focused on reading the Rubáiyát as an idyllic garden retreat that could provide moments of security and repose for the garden-crazy Victorians, and the second read the Rubáiyát as amoral, a guiltless self-indulgence for a man or woman to escape into a sensual, pleasure-centered world without their partner or children (Schenker, 53). Still others interpreted the prose to promote mysticism, nihilism, or even agnosticism.
Above images: Illustrations by Elihu Vedder, from the Library's first edition of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1884.
FitzGerald exploited Victorian interest in exoticism, sentimentality, romanticism, and Epicureanism to great effect, as we can see by the hundreds of editions printed between FitzGerald’s death and the height of the Rubáiyát’s popularity around the 1910s. The Rubáiyát came to dominate popular culture, sparking Omar Khayyám clubs on both sides of the Atlantic, an interpretive dance performed by Isadora Duncan, and even a jubilee year performance by the band of John Philip Sousa (Isani, 258). Parodies of the Rubáiyát came into vogue for a time, others published their own translations of the original quatrains, the poem inspired novels and a play, and references to the Rubáiyát can be found in literature, amongst other media, to the present day. This list from Wikipedia highlights many ways FitzGerald’s publication has influenced Western culture, ranging from literature to movies and television.
Above images: Photographs composed by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson, from the Library's first edition copy of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, published by Dodge Publishing Co. in 1905.
Although the popularity of the Rubáiyát has diminished in popular culture since the 1920s, the work continues to find an audience. More than 200 translators have worked on the Rubáiyát, and the poem has been translated into over eighty languages and printed around the globe. Since 1900, not one year has gone by without a new edition or reprint of the Rubáiyát (Coumans, 13). Ranging from pocket-size paperbacks to sumptuously decorated folios, one has their pick of designs to buy for any occasion. Collector’s editions remain highly sought after, and two editions I particularly want to highlight live in our Special Collections.
The first illustrated edition of the Rubáiyát was printed by Houghton Mifflin in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1884, and remains one of the most iconic editions. Printed in two versions, a deluxe volume printed on Japanese vellum and an unsigned trade issue, both proved a sensation with copies selling out within six days. American painter and poet Elihu Vedder (1836-1923) spent eleven months creating the illustrations, as well as designing the board covers and endpapers. A member of the school of the Pre-Raphaelites, his fifty-six illustrations drew high praise, and the book remains a collector’s item. The text is taken from the third version of FitzGerald’s translations, rearranged into three sections (Joy, Death, Rebirth). These illustrations served as one of the first introductions of the Art Nouveau style to American audiences (Soria). The Rubáiyát is Vedder’s most famous work.
The Library owns a copy of the unsigned trade issue, on decorated cloth boards. This copy includes a letter written by Vedder addressed to one Irving Browne dated May 10, 1885. With some digging, I was able to locate a digitized copy of the letter Browne sent to Vedder, dated December 24, 1884 (reel 518, frame 1790), with “Albany Law Journal” on the letterhead. This letterhead was crucial in identifying the provenance of our Library copy. Irving Browne was the editor of the “Albany Law Journal” and a rather prolific writer and poet. While the enclosed gift Browne mentions is not digitized, Vedder’s reply from May 10th informs us Browne sent him a poem; Vedder writes “my friend Mrs. Louise C. Moulton having written a very fine one on the same subject.” In fact, on the same page where this letter to Mr. Browne was tucked inside the book is pasted a drawing of Elihu Vedder above a poem by Louise Chandler Moulton titled “The Cup of Death, for a picture by Elihu Vedder.” Thanks to all of these clues, I believe Browne was the former owner of this copy. Browne died in February 1899, and the Library purchased this copy in March 1899 for the Green Art Alcove. While working on this blog post, I located a copy of an auction reference guide that lists an auction of “The Library of the Late Irving Browne” held March 1 and 8, 1899 at American Art Galleries. This matches the handwritten acquisitions note found in the gutter of our copy: “Amer. Art. Gall. $38.00, Mar. 1899.”
Above images: Cover designed by Elihu Vedder for Houghton Mifflin's 1884 edition of the Rubáiyát; Elihu Vedder's letter to Irving Browne; title page designed by Elihu Vedder.
Following the success of Vedder’s edition, other publishers followed suit. The next illustrated edition I want to highlight from the Library’s collection was published in 1905 by Dodge Publishing Co., based upon the fourth version of FitzGerald’s translation. This edition includes twenty-eight Art Nouveau illustrations via photolithography. The photographs were composed by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (1875-1931), a pioneer in the field of photography. Leeson would draw or etch on her negatives in order to produce photographs that looked more painterly. Leeson’s Rubáiyát was one of the first American books to print fine art photography, and it was an immediate sensation at a time when photography had yet to be accepted as an art form. Leeson instructed her models to replicate classic Grecian poses, dressing some artfully arranged in robes and posing others in the nude. Several editions followed the success of this 1905 publication.
Originally published in decorated cloth boards, the Library’s copy is rebound in maroon morocco, with a gilt border and grape motif on the front cover, and signed by bookbinder John Grabau (1878 -1948). Illustrations are sepia photos printed on tissue. Not much is known about the provenance of this copy. Grabau operated out of Buffalo, New York for the majority of his career. The date June 10, 1982 is stamped in the gutter, so we know when the Library acquired this copy, but any other information is lacking.
Above images: Binding for the Library's copy of Dodge Publishing Co.'s 1905 edition of the Rubáiyát; title page; page with acquisition date stamp in lower left.
If this blog has piqued your interest, I encourage readers to pick up a copy of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám from the Library. You can also find multiple editions and translations available online via the Internet Archive.
Please visit our Special Collections page to learn more about rare materials held in the Library. You can also contact the Special Collections Librarian at [email protected].
Note: Top image is "A Ruby kindles in the vine", illustration for FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson (c. 1905).
Bibliography
Browne, Irving. Letter to Elihu Vedder. 24 December 1884. AAA.veddelih, reel 518, frame 1790. Elihu Vedder Papers, 1804-1969 (bulk 1840-1943). Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
Cole, Rachel Martin. “The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 34, no. 2, 2008, pp. 40–93. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20205618. Accessed 7 April 2025.
Coumans, Jos. The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam: an updated bibliography. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2010.
Hoeflich, M. H. “Irving Browne, His Library, and His Literary and Collecting Passions.” Green Bag, Autumn 2020. https://greenbag.org/v24n1/v24n1_articles_hoeflich.pdf Accessed 18 April 2025.
“Irving Browne and His Books.” New York Times, 18 February 1899. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/02/18/issue.html Accessed 18 April 2025.
Isani, Mukhtar Ali. “The Vogue of Omar Khayyám in America.” Comparative Literature Studies, vol. 14, no. 3, 1977, pp. 256–73. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40245922. Accessed 7 April 2025.
Potter, Ambrose George. A Bibliography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: together with kindred matter in prose and verse pertaining thereto. London: Ingpen and Grant, 1929. Internet Archive. Accessed 10 April 2025.
Schenker, Daniel. “Fugitive Articulation: An Introduction to ‘The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.’” Victorian Poetry, vol. 19, no. 1, 1981, pp. 49–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40003146. Accessed 7 April 2025
Soria, Regina. “Vedder, Elihu.” Grove Art Online. Accessed 17 April 2025.
