The Golden Age of Rubaiyat Art III. The Decorators

The Golden Age of Rubaiyat Art, 1884-1913. Volume III. The Decorators. Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is arguably one of the most widely published and illustrated books of poetry of all time. For over 150 years the various versions have been published and new illustrated versions continue to appear to this day. A series of three extensively illustrated books document the original artists who illustrated books published for the public. This volume focusses on the decorators. To date, little attention has been paid to those artists who decorated books for the public who transformed bland collections of text into tomes that often were wondrous to behold. These Rubaiyat artists embellished and decorated the pages of verse, title pages, endpapers and covers. Thirty-six decorators are revealed, many more than had been previously thought, and their contributions are not only summarized in charts and tables but with over 160 pictures. As with the other volumes, most of those pictures have not been seen since their original publication. A previously unknown decorator is revealed along with some new insights into the contribution of various artists in areas not previously known.