Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám de DULAC, Edmund, illustrator; KHAYYAM, Omar; FITZGERALD, Edward (trans.)

London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1909. One of 750 Copies, Signed by the Artist

[DULAC, Edmund, illustrator]. OMAR KHAYYÁM. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald. With Illustrations by Edmund Dulac. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [n.d., 1909].

Limited to 750 copies, numbered and signed by the artist (this copy being No. 59). Large quarto (12 5/16 x 9 7/8 inches; 313 x 250 mm.). [124] pp. (including inserted title). Twenty color plates mounted on buff vellum-like paper with gilt over tan decorative borders. With descriptive tissue guards. Text printed on rectos only within a brown decorative border.

Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Later yellow silk ties. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Tan endpapers stamped in light olive green with a repeated peacock feather design. Six of the 'tipped-in' color plates with very slight crease in lower corner, otherwise a near fine copy.

"In point of excellence of art, popularity, distinction and profit the crowning achievement... was the publication of the Fitzgerald version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám illustrated by Edmund Dulac. The book was a joy and a treasure. Its public acceptance was immediate and great."

Hughey 21.