“ESTABLISHED HIS FAME AT HOME AND ABROAD”: ELIHU VEDDER’S ILLUSTRATED RUBAIYAT, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND AT THE HARCOURT BINDERY

(VEDDER, Elihu, illustrator) (FITZGERALD, Edward, translator). The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam the Astronomer-Poet of Persia Rendered into English Verse by Edward Fitzgerald with an Accompaniment of Drawings by Elihu Vedder. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1884. Folio (11 by 13 inches), 20th-century full green morocco, raised bands, spine, pastedowns and boards with elaborate gilt and brown morocco onlays, watered silk endpapers, all edges gilt. $7000.

First trade edition of Vedder’s wonderfully illustrated edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, with lithographic frontispiece, title page, colophon, dedication leaf, half title and 51 mounted plates, beautifully bound at the Harcourt Bindery.

Vedder, known for his Minerva and other murals in the Library of Congress, was "famed in his own day for illustrations to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" (Hacker, 209). "A commission to illustrate the 1884 edition of Edward FitzGerald's Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám established his fame at home and abroad. His illustrations, intricately linked to the verses (which he rearranged to suit his vision of the book) were a popular success and exhibited widely. He converted a number of the illustrations, such as 'The Cup of Love,' into full-scale paintings… Vedder was one of the most popular artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At his death, the Nation placed him in the 'highest ranks' of American painters" (ANB). A limited edition of 100 copies signed by Vedder and bound in morocco was issued the same year, no precedence established.

Interior fine, stunning Harcourt binding with front joint expertly repaired. A beautifully bound copy of this illustrated edition.