The Illustrated Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: Special Edition Paperback – June 1, 2010

You can get The Rubaiyat almost anywhere, even print it out from online, however this edition is well worth the money. The colorful illustrations by Edmund Dulac alone are worth the price of admission and any student of art ought to have them in their reference library. The format is for 5 (quatrains) stanzas per page with one illustration on the opposite page. For those who have never read the Rubaiyat, this is an excellent introduction as the images flesh out the poetry. It would be best read for the first time in a quiet evening with a glass of red wine. Later, one can track down some of the references that one is unfamiliar with.This is my second purchase of The Rubaiyat, the first came around 4 decades ago. It was the Fitzgerald version too, but illustrated by Edmund Sullivan. I still have it and have read over it many times. The black and white illustrations are essentially line drawings of every quatrain and of quite a different nature that the Edmund Dulac full color illustrations. Dulac expresses one lighter, brighter side of Omar Khayyam, the side which wishes to enjoy the world of the present. Sullivan expresses Khayyam's darker vision, that of the utter hopelessness of any afterlife and temporary nature of life itself.I will always keep both editions in my library as the counterpoised illustrations render the Rubaiyat into almost two separate poems. I suggest that for your more complete experience that you do the same.

I bought this book to see Edmund Dulac's illustrations, which I didn't know about. They're very poorly reproduced in this edition (originally published 1909), though well enough to see that they aren't very interesting works by this very prolific early 1900s book illustrator, probably the most illustrious of a number of notable illustrators from this golden age of modern color book illustration.The text is that of the 5th and final edition of Edward FitzGerald's Rubáiyát, the well known "rendering" (not really a translation) of the middle Persian of Omar Kháyyám, but a classic English poem on its own merits. It's set in a quite elegant italic font, which however seems to lack the accent marks necessary to read FitzGerald's work out loud, and printed in an awful blue color that fades out to pale purple at the bottom of each page.I was quite disappointed by this book.

An amazing little book. Beautiful words and images!

The foregoing review is puzzling. I do not know a single educated person who is not aware that the translations by Edward Fitzgerald are an absolute masterpiece of the English language; especially the Fifth Edition of the translation, as given here. The reviewer apparently speaks Farsi and is looking for a literal translation.The beautiful paintings by Edmund Dulac are gorgeous and are well printed. Recommended.

Not a big fan of poetry, however I read this in my college years and it was fun to go back and spot the well known parts. Everyone should read it at least once.

This kindle rubaiyat is chosen from fitzgerald's most gorgeous editions. The dulac illustrations are like jewels among the poet's jewels. How moving are these existential quatrains with their unflinching truths and heartbreaking music. This is a great treasure, at its most beautiful in english. Khayyam was comforted by wine and love, but we also have fitzgerald's rubaiyat.

This is NOT a translation of the Rubaiyat. NONE of the quatrains were at ALL like the origianl. Especially my 2 favorites. They were nowhere to be found. I recognize almost none of the translation. The pictures are nice but the text is no good at all. Not a good choice.

The copy is very faint, hardly readable, so I deleted it. Very rare for me to be disappointed with your products. Please credit my account for the amount charged.Rachel Seeger