Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: Khorasan Edition

I found the 1952 edition of this at Rozelle Markets a few weekends ago. A very badly torn dusk jacket but after a quick browse I knew I had to get it. It has three versions of Edward FitzGerald's translations as well as essays about FitzGerald and Omar Khayyam.

It is beautifully printed and has amazing full page colour illustrations by Stewart Robert Sherriffs. I scanned a few to share:

Oh yes! Oh wow!
*Lusting*

Thanks for sharing those illustrations.

I've been trying to find more information about Robert Stewart Sherriffs and filling in the common knowledge. I didn't know before that he was a famous cartoonist and his pictures are to be found in various galleries.

I still could not find a picture of him though.

What great illustrations!

I think everyone loves to do the art for the Rubáiyát. I found a slipcased Random House published version from 1947 at the flea market this weekend.
The illustrator is Mahmoud Sayah. (hmmm, I see I need to fix his page)

Anyway, I scanned the end papers for another thread and a couple of pages to share with you all.





(That girl has a neck problem!)

The other thread, for anyone interested is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/142094

ps: I think I like Sherriff's art better. But I only had to pay $4.00. Not bad.
Oh, and there are 7 different sihouette backgrounds.

ETA: replacement images as my photo site is no longer.

Well! Doing a bit of research, I found this interesting book -

The Art of Omar Khayyam: Illustrating FitzGerald's Rubaiyat, and here's the googlebooks page, so that you can see inside it:

http://books.google.com/books?id=4TkZdeLqg8oC&pg=PT40&lpg=PT40&dq=ma...

Beautiful pictures! I think that girl has had a bit too much of whatever is in the bottle. Shiraz possibly.

I also have the popular Penguin edition with reproductions of Persian miniature paintings which I think sparked my interest in this kind of art, especially the Indian schools.

Arabian Nights is another one that has inspired illustrators. I recently bought The Unknown Paintings of Kay Nielsen from a market. Beautiful, erotic paintings that were intended to be illustrations for Arabian Nights but were never published.

Oh, please scan one or two to share.

I read last night that The Rubáiyát is one of the most published books in the world, and no one has a full list of all of the illustrators. I found this one today:
http://himmapaan.livejournal.com/25212.html

I think Himmapaan is his name, he's from Thailand, but he's not on LT under that name. I expect he's known in the Folio group. (now looking for his Aladdin)

ETA - his name is Niroot Puttapipat.

These oriental themes encourage saturated colors and nice flowing lines. I've got three Arabian Nights - Kate Douglas Wiggin, Andrew Lang and Adeline H. Bolton. All wonderful.

Here are a few pictures from the Kay Nielsen book mentioned above.




That folio society edition is beautiful too.

Oh! I had heard about Kay Nielsen, and have Welleran Poltarnees' appreciation book of her work on my wishlist. Nice!! Thanks for scanning.