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RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYAAM THE ASTRONOMER-POET OF PERSIA RENDERED INTO ENGLISH VERSE.
(London: Macmillan and Co., 1903). 210 x 145 mm. (8 1/4 x 5 1/2"). 112 pp.Translated by Edward FitzGerald.
A SUPERB MOLDED CALF BINDING DESIGNED BY H. GRANVILLE FELL AND EXECUTED BY CHIVERS OF BATH (stamp-signed in gilt on rear turn-in), upper cover with a graceful Art Nouveau design featuring a woman with long hair and artfully draped robe holding an urn on one shoulder, the figure framed by curving vines bearing grapes, a gilt-tooled nimbus-like medallion behind her; lower cover with a stylized tree, a book, flute, and jug at its base flanked by two large flowers, a large singing bird perched in the center of the branches on a gilt-stippled background, the tree very lightly washed with green; flat spine with elongated gilt cartouche containing blind-tooled vertical titling, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. In the (somewhat worn but solid) original drop-front box lined with felt. ◆Just the most trivial signs of use to the leather (a hint of wear, a touch of soiling), but AN EXCEPTIONALLY PLEASING COPY, clean, fresh, and bright internally, and in a binding with no condition issues to detract from its remarkable beauty.
This is an especially lovely Art Nouveau binding with unusual features and tremendous aesthetic appeal, produced by two of England's most talented book artists: the illustrator H. Granville Fell and the binder Cedric Chivers. Fell (1872-1951) was a highly successful illustrator, recognizable by the sinuous lines and pastel colors of his designs. It is likely that the leather modelling here is the work of Chivers' employee Alice Shepherd, who was credited (in a binder's ticker) with creating a nearly identical binding for another copy of the Rubaiyat previously in our inventory. Shepherd trained with Mary Ann Bassett, who specialized in modelled leather bindings on which, as here, the design was sometimes heightened with color and gilt. Shepherd went to work for Chivers in 1897, supervising a crew of five women making cut and modelled leather bindings. According to Tidcombe, "her method was to mark the design on the damp leather, and then scrape the under (flesh) side of the leather with an ivory tool, to make a hollow within the area of the design. The hollow was filled with cement, and then, by manipulation and pressure, the design was brought into relief on the upper (hair) side of the leather. Any gilding, colouring, or finishing was done after the book was bound." Our binding is quite appropriate for the perennially popular Persian poem, as it evokes the work's most famous lines, delineating as they do the basic necessities of life: "A Book of Verses underneath the Bough / A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread—and Thou." It is difficult to overstate the quiet and subtle beauty of the design here. (ST18300)
Price: $11,000.00