His seventy-six illustrations for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Methuen, 1913) treat FitzGerald's verses realistically. Brangwyn's gorgeousness and glory of the east are missing and are replaced by an almost literal rendering of the lines. These are actual Persians a Sullivan saw them, not the symbolical figures of Love and Life Laughter and Carousal of the translator. Many of the drawings, made in line, chalk and wash, had appeared already in the pages of The Pall Mall Magazine. All are interesting; some are excellent, but there is a feeling of restraint about them hardly in keeping with the defiant spirit of the book. The drawing of the hands throughout is wonderful/ Boyd Houghton's influence can be felt often and one wonders how that artist of the 'sixties, with his knowledge and interest in the east, would have illustrated the poem. The Omar Khayyam club commissioned replicas of the mug illustrating verse LXIV. These were made by Arnold Bennett's brother and used at their meetings. — James Thorpe, 31
Plates
- Irám indeed is gone with all its Rose
- The Vine had struck a Fibre
- And this delightful herb (verse 19)
- Lo! some we loved, the lovliest and the best (verse 21)
- And wem that now make merry (verse 22)
- All the Saints and Sages (verse 25)
- Oh, come with old (verse 26)
- Myself when young did eagerly frequent Doctor and Sain (verse 27)
- With the Seed of Wisdom did I sow (verse 28)
- Into this universe, and why not knowing (verse 29)
- There was a Door to which I found no Key (verse 32)
- Then to this earthen bowl I did adjourn (verse 34)
- Then to the rolling Heav'n itself I cried (verse 33)
- For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day (verse 36)
- One Moment in Annihilation's Waste (verse 36)
- Ah, fill the Cup (verse 38)
- By the Tavern Door agape (verse 42)
- The Grape that can with Logic absolute (verse 43)
- Leave the Wise to wrangle (verse 45)
- And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press (verse 47)
- While the Rose blows along the River Brink (verse 48)
- 'Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days (verse 49)
- The Moving Finger writes, and, having writ, Moves on (verse 51)
- And this I know (verse 36)
- And strange to tell (verse 56)
- Then said another (verse 61)
- None answer'd this (verse 63)
- Folks of a surly Tapster tell (verse 64)
- Ah, with the Grape my fading Life provide (verse 67)
- That ev'n my buried Ashes (verse 68)
- And much as Wine has play'd the Infidel (verse 71)
- Alas, that Spring should vanish with the Rose! (verse 72)
- Ah, Moon of my Delight (verse 73)
- And when Thyself with shining Foot shall pass (verse 75)
Bibliography
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám translated by Edward FitzGerald. New York: Illustrated Editions Company, nd. [Originally published in London by Methuen in 1913]. Internet Archive version. Web. 23 December 2012.
Thorpe, James. E. J. Sullivan. London: Art and Technics, 1948.
Last modified 22 December 2012