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Edward FitzGerald’s “Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” and Related Materials: The John Roger Paas Collection by John Roger Paas ’67.

February 27, 2024

Tags Alumni Book

(Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2023).

The author, Carleton College’s William H. Laird Professor of German and the Liberal Arts, Emeritus, shares this three-volume catalog of a major collection of books he assembled over the past four decades. According to the publisher: “This catalog of an unparalleled private collection of Rubaiyat-related books and materials describes more than 7,000 items and includes color illustrations of over 2,000 book covers. Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam — first published anonymously in 1859 — was by the early 20th century the most popular literary work in the English language. Only the Bible was printed more frequently. The Rubaiyat became such an integral part of the very fabric of English-speaking culture that by 1900 people were speaking generally of a veritable Omar cult.

 

“Over the years more than 400 publishers on both sides of the Atlantic have issued thousands of editions/printings of the Rubaiyat. During the heyday of interest in the early decades of the 20th century, some publishers issued more than 20 different printings in a variety of editions in a single year. Many of these books were finely printed as limited editions and were often illustrated by leading artists of the time, such as Elihu Vedder, Edmund Dulac, and Willy Pogany. In addition to printings of FitzGerald’s work, translations, parodies, and scholarly studies appeared, as well as a wide range of fascinating Omariana (novels, calendars, postcards, cartoons, musical works, cigarettes, jewelry, etc.). Included in the collection are many unique items, and only a very small number of the books described are presently held in public institutions.”

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