![OMAR Khayym (d. circa 1123). Rubiyt ... translated into English Verse [by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883)]. London: G. Norman for Bernard Quaritch, 1859. Small 4 in 8's (207 x 159mm). Manuscript correction to printer's error on p. 4, quatrain XIV, line 4 in (?)Fitzgerald's hand. (Small neatly-repaired tear to outer blank margin of final leaf.) Original printed wrappers (neatly rebacked), within four-fold cloth chemise, all within light brown morocco slipcase by Riviere & Son. Provenance: Frank J. Hogan (booklabel); Francis Kettaneh (booklabel). A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, one of 250 printed. The manuscript correction on p. 4 appears in most copies. Ashley II, p. 121; Grolier English 97; Potter 1.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1999/CKS/1999_CKS_06098_0104_000(113909).jpg?w=1)
細節
OMAR Khayym (d. circa 1123). Rubiyt ... translated into English Verse [by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883)]. London: G. Norman for Bernard Quaritch, 1859. Small 4 in 8's (207 x 159mm). Manuscript correction to printer's error on p. 4, quatrain XIV, line 4 in (?)Fitzgerald's hand. (Small neatly-repaired tear to outer blank margin of final leaf.) Original printed wrappers (neatly rebacked), within four-fold cloth chemise, all within light brown morocco slipcase by Riviere & Son. Provenance: Frank J. Hogan (booklabel); Francis Kettaneh (booklabel). A FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, one of 250 printed. The manuscript correction on p. 4 appears in most copies. Ashley II, p. 121; Grolier English 97; Potter 1.
[With:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... rendered into English verse. Second edition. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: John Childs & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1868. Small 4 in 8's (206 x 161mm). (Occasional light spotting.) Original printed wrappers (very lightly spotted and soiled). A VERY FINE COPY of the second edition, the first edition of Fitzgerald's second version, one of 500 printed. Potter 129.
[And:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... Third edition. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: G. Norman & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1872. Small 4 (217 x 155mm). (Light spotting to first and last few leaves.) Original morocco-backed cloth (spine rubbed). Provenance: W. W. Jackson (signature, bookplate); Roger Senhouse (signature, bookplate). Third edition, and first edition of Fitzgerald's third version. Potter 137.
[And:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... and the Salmn and bsl of Jm; rendered into English Verse. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: G. Norman & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1879. Small 8 (175 x 128mm). Lithographic frontispiece. (Occasional light spotting.) Original morocco-backed cloth, t.e.g. (spine lightly rubbed). Provenance: Alice Minet (inscription, ?bookplate). Fourth edition of Fitzgerald's Rubiyt, and the first edition of the fourth and final version. Potter 141.
FIRST EDITIONS OF ALL FOUR VERSIONS OF FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION OF THE RUBIYT IN THEIR ORIGINAL BINDINGS. "Rubiyt" is the plural form of "rubi," a two-lined stanza which breaks very naturally into the four lines of the English quatrain adopted by Fitzgerald, though the translation as "quatrain" is not literal. Three different collections of Omar's quatrains were studied before Fitzgerald's paraphrase reached its final form: the Ouseley manuscript at the Bodleian dated A.H. 865 (A.D. 1460), the French translation by J. B. Nicholas published in Paris in 1867, and the Calcutta manuscript in the library of the Bengal Asiatic Society, of later date than the Ouseley. The first two of the four editions published in Fitgerald's lifetime correspond most closely to the original. In the later versions, which were refinements of the first and second, he departed further and further from literalness, as Khayym's 11th-century poem was used to echo 19th-century thoughts. In the words of his biographer, A. M. Terhune, "Fitgerald set about to reveal Omar to his generation. He wished, furthermore, to unveil the beauties which he had himself discovered in the original. These, and the desire to give form to a formless creation, were his reasons for translating the poem" (The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1947, p. 232). It is well known how the price of the first edition sank from five shillings to a penny. Of the forty copies reserved for Fitzgerald himself, he gave away only three. The rest remained on Quaritch's shelves for almost two years, until finally dumped in the bargain box outside the door of 15 Piccadilly (where the firm had moved from Castle Street). Whitley Stokes, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ruskin, Swinburne, Burne-Jones, and William Morris were among those who rescued the poem from oblivion -- but Bernard Quaritch's discretion was such that at first they had no notion of the translator's identity. Once Charles Eliot Norton, who had been shown the work by Swinburne, made both Fitzgerald's and Nicholas's translation the subject of an article in the North American Review in October 1869, the small market for it was led from America rather than England. Only in 1870 did an English publication review the poem, and only by the time the fourth edition appeared had the translator's name become public knowledge: even then Fitgerald did not attach his name to the edition. He commented rather dismissively on "the little craze" which his work was enjoying in America, and had he lived to see it become a mania, the favourite subject for gift books, anthologies, and book illustration at the turn of the century, his feelings might have been mixed. After his death in 1883, there was disagreement between Quaritch and his executor, and the firm's association with this most celebrated of all translations came to an end. (4)
[With:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... rendered into English verse. Second edition. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: John Childs & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1868. Small 4 in 8's (206 x 161mm). (Occasional light spotting.) Original printed wrappers (very lightly spotted and soiled). A VERY FINE COPY of the second edition, the first edition of Fitzgerald's second version, one of 500 printed. Potter 129.
[And:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... Third edition. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: G. Norman & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1872. Small 4 (217 x 155mm). (Light spotting to first and last few leaves.) Original morocco-backed cloth (spine rubbed). Provenance: W. W. Jackson (signature, bookplate); Roger Senhouse (signature, bookplate). Third edition, and first edition of Fitzgerald's third version. Potter 137.
[And:]
OMAR Khayym. Rubiyt ... and the Salmn and bsl of Jm; rendered into English Verse. Translation by Fitzgerald. London: G. Norman & Son for Bernard Quaritch, 1879. Small 8 (175 x 128mm). Lithographic frontispiece. (Occasional light spotting.) Original morocco-backed cloth, t.e.g. (spine lightly rubbed). Provenance: Alice Minet (inscription, ?bookplate). Fourth edition of Fitzgerald's Rubiyt, and the first edition of the fourth and final version. Potter 141.
FIRST EDITIONS OF ALL FOUR VERSIONS OF FITZGERALD'S TRANSLATION OF THE RUBIYT IN THEIR ORIGINAL BINDINGS. "Rubiyt" is the plural form of "rubi," a two-lined stanza which breaks very naturally into the four lines of the English quatrain adopted by Fitzgerald, though the translation as "quatrain" is not literal. Three different collections of Omar's quatrains were studied before Fitzgerald's paraphrase reached its final form: the Ouseley manuscript at the Bodleian dated A.H. 865 (A.D. 1460), the French translation by J. B. Nicholas published in Paris in 1867, and the Calcutta manuscript in the library of the Bengal Asiatic Society, of later date than the Ouseley. The first two of the four editions published in Fitgerald's lifetime correspond most closely to the original. In the later versions, which were refinements of the first and second, he departed further and further from literalness, as Khayym's 11th-century poem was used to echo 19th-century thoughts. In the words of his biographer, A. M. Terhune, "Fitgerald set about to reveal Omar to his generation. He wished, furthermore, to unveil the beauties which he had himself discovered in the original. These, and the desire to give form to a formless creation, were his reasons for translating the poem" (The Life of Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1947, p. 232). It is well known how the price of the first edition sank from five shillings to a penny. Of the forty copies reserved for Fitzgerald himself, he gave away only three. The rest remained on Quaritch's shelves for almost two years, until finally dumped in the bargain box outside the door of 15 Piccadilly (where the firm had moved from Castle Street). Whitley Stokes, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Ruskin, Swinburne, Burne-Jones, and William Morris were among those who rescued the poem from oblivion -- but Bernard Quaritch's discretion was such that at first they had no notion of the translator's identity. Once Charles Eliot Norton, who had been shown the work by Swinburne, made both Fitzgerald's and Nicholas's translation the subject of an article in the North American Review in October 1869, the small market for it was led from America rather than England. Only in 1870 did an English publication review the poem, and only by the time the fourth edition appeared had the translator's name become public knowledge: even then Fitgerald did not attach his name to the edition. He commented rather dismissively on "the little craze" which his work was enjoying in America, and had he lived to see it become a mania, the favourite subject for gift books, anthologies, and book illustration at the turn of the century, his feelings might have been mixed. After his death in 1883, there was disagreement between Quaritch and his executor, and the firm's association with this most celebrated of all translations came to an end. (4)