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RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM.
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1881). 174 x 127 mm. (6 3/4 x 5"). 77, [2] leaves. FIRST PUBLISHED AMERICAN EDITION, from the Third London Edition.
Original brown cloth, upper cover with gilt title and floral sprig within a black frame, smooth spine with gilt lettering and flower. Front flyleaf with penciled inscription: "Prof. Wm. M. Sloane / with the affection of / Chas. Dudley Warner," dated July 7, 1881. Paas 2679. Only trivial imperfections--A VERY FINE COPY of a book extremely difficult to find this well preserved.
This first edition of the Rubaiyat published in America, in FitzGerald's 101-verse third version, has a distinguished link with the U.S. literary scene of the late 19th century. The inscriber here, Charles Dudley Warner (1829-1900), was a major American literary figure, important in his time as an essayist, novelist, and friend of Mark Twain, with whom he co-authored the novel "The Gilded Age." Educator and historian William Milligan Sloane (1850-1928), to whom it is inscribed, was president of the American Historical Association as well as founder and chairman of the United States Olympic Committee (he escorted the American team to the first Olympic Games, held in Athens in 1896). Because of their mutual interests, the paths of the two men must have crossed with some frequency; the final connection occurred when Sloane delivered Warner's memorial address before the American Social Science Association, of which Warner was president at the time his death. The speech emphasized Warner's accomplishment as both a journalist/editor and man of letters, his wide appeal and admiration, and his "profound" interest in social problems--a fact that made his presidency of the association so appropriate. (ST17640-006)
Price: $1,250.00 save 50% $625.00