London: Hodder & Stoughton, [1913]. Large quarto. Full publisher’s vellum,
Richly blocked in gilt and blue to a design by René Bull, with gilt titles to the spine and upper cover. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Printed by Henry Stone & Son, Banbury. Limited to 250 copies signed and numbered by the artist, this being No. 216.
Edward FitzGerald’s celebrated rendering of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám found one of its most lavish incarnations in this edition illustrated by René Bull, a work that represents the last flowering of the Edwardian gift book tradition. Bull’s images fuse Persian, Byzantine, and Art Nouveau elements in an opulent interpretation of Khayyám’s meditations on love, transience, and the passing of earthly pleasure. His ten mounted colour plates are framed by ornamental borders printed in gold and accompanied by nineteen line drawings, each with a tissue guard bearing one of FitzGerald’s quatrains.
Bull, an Anglo-Irish illustrator trained in Paris, was known for his flair for theatrical colour and architectural detail. In this edition, he achieves a visual synthesis between the spiritual mysticism of Persian poetry and the ornamental decadence of early twentieth-century illustration. The result is a book that stands as both a monument to the Golden Age of British book illustration and a reflection of Europe’s fascination with the East at the fin de siècle.
The vellum binding remains bright and finely preserved, the gilt sharp and luminous, the blue inlay unfaded. Internally there is light spotting to the endpapers and a few preliminary leaves, as is usual with this edition, but the plates are clean and fresh, retaining their original brilliance. A handsome and complete copy of this signed limited issue.
Printed by Henry Stone & Son of Banbury, this edition was produced in a small run of 250 numbered copies for Hodder & Stoughton, each signed by René Bull on the limitation leaf. Few copies survive in such condition, the vellum often having dulled or warped.
An exceptional example of one of the most beautiful illustrated books of the Edwardian era, uniting FitzGerald’s enduring verse with René Bull’s sumptuous vision.
