Roubayyat de Hafiz et d’Omar Khayyam. [The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám].

$1,250.00

Item Number: 127096

Paris: Francis LeBegue, [1921].

Finely bound example of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Octavo, bound in full levant morocco with gilt titles to the spine, gilt Art Deco style decorations to the front and rear panel, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, decorated borders and initials. One of 300 copies. Text in French. Translated by J. Carpenter after L. Cramner Byng for Haifiz and after the poetic English version of Edward Fitzgerald for Omar Khayyám. Original wrappers bound in. Housed in a custom slipcase.

The Rubáiyát is one of the most popular poems of all time. A collection of quatrains composed in the eleventh century by Persian poet and philosopher Omar Khayyám, it was first published in English-language translation by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859. Since then, its melancholy tone and enigmatic philosophy of mourning the painful brevity of life while celebrating what pleasures we may find have made it an inspiration to countless people.