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May's Book of the Month is Omar Khayym Rubaiyat. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1859. Translated by Edward FitzGerald. First edition, with marginal notation in FitzGerald's hand.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayym is certainly one the most famous works of translation in the English language. The FitzGerald translation in particular has remained linked to our thoughts of springtime and love:

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse·and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness·
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

Because of its lush verse and exotic settings, the Rubaiyat has long been the province of famous illustrators and designers. The Special Collections Research Center is fortunate to have a collection of well over 200 examples of beautifully illustrated, printed, and bound editions.

Omar Khayym was born in Naishpör in Persia sometime in the latter half of the Eleventh Century and died in 1123. Under the auspices of his friends the vizier and the sultan, Omar "the tentmaker" became a renowned astronomer. In spite of his scientific genius, however, his philosophy remains earth-bound, celebrating the senses and love of life. Edward FitzGerald was born in 1809 and was educated at Cambridge, where he became acquainted with Thackeray and Tennyson. He lived in Suffolk and spent his days learning languages and sailing his boat, Scandal. His one notable work, the Rubaiyat, appeared in 1859, the same year as Darwin's Origin of Species and Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. FitzGerald died in 1883.

The Book of the Month is curated by Kenneth Lavender, Rare Book Librarian.