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RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM.
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1909]). 320 x 255 mm. (12 1/2 x 10"). [58] leaves.Translated by Edward FitzGerald (second version, 110 quatrains). No. 215 OF 750 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR.
Original stiff vellum, gilt, upper cover with whimsical frame formed by the sweeping tails of two peacocks perched at the head of the board, these decorated with flowers, two elephants at the foot of the frame, lettering in faux Arabic script to upper cover and smooth spine, two tan silk ribbon closures, endpapers patterned with peacock feathers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. 20 tipped-in color plates by Edmund Dulac, with numbered tissue guards. Potter 131; Paas 2583. Half-inch crack at top of front joint, ribbon closures with minor fraying (though both intact and snug), a whisper of soiling to the vellum, minor bumping at spine ends, other similarly trivial imperfections, but still qualifying as a fine copy and notable for not having the typical splaying to the vellum.
This is the deluxe limited edition of an "Art Gift Book" illustrated by the celebrated Edmund Dulac. A review in The London Times on 18 October 1909 praised the work: "As a designer Mr. Dulac is wonderfully varied, and as a draughtsman often exquisite. His colour, too, is charming, with the preciosity that is to be expected from an illustrator of a poet of the East." Dulac (1882-1953) studied art at the university in his native Toulouse before emigrating to England when he was 22, at just the time when the process of color separation was making it possible to print faithfully the glowing colors of his palette. Between 1907, when his "Arabian Nights" appeared, and 1920, his works found an appreciative audience. Influenced by the work of the older artist Arthur Rackham, Dulac's illustrations have a sophisticated and exotic tone with rich color, reminiscent of the paintings of Gustav Klimt. Houfe says, "Dulac was immensely versatile and had more sense of color and design than most of his English contemporaries, excepting Rackham. He looked to the Middle and Far East for inspiration, and his watercolors of legendary subjects have a gemlike brilliance found only in Mogul miniatures, their flat, stylized and sleepy beauty sometimes comes from the Japanese print, sometimes from the Pre-Raphaelites and even occasionally from the Renaissance." After 1920, Dulac, who had become a naturalized British citizen, published several more illustrated fairy tales and also worked as a designer of costumes and sets. (ST17640-114)
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