“A JUG OF WINE, A LOAF OF BREAD—AND THOU…”
(FITZGERALD, Edward) KHAYYAM, Omar. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. London: Macmillan, 1926. Small octavo, contemporary three-quarter red morocco, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt. $850.
Golden Treasury edition, attractively bound by Lauriat.
Composed in 12th-century Persia and rendered into English by Edward FitzGerald (his first version appeared in 1859), these stanzas express "the desire to snatch the utmost of pleasurable sensation from the irretrievable passing moment… [but also] more sober thoughts of the Power that has created beauty and in man a capacity to appreciate beauty but has cursed him with transience… In words and cadences of haunting loveliness a desolating message was communicated to numberless hearts" (Baugh et al., 1417-18).
Fine condition.