The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
1894 Houghton, Mifflin and Company Elihu Vedder Edition

This edition is stunning in that the art and words are integrated into each other. The type is gorgeous and Vedder’s drawings are superb.

Vedder is perhaps one of the most known artists to have done the Rubaiyat. Or rather, his work is already part of the ‘mythology’ of the Rubaiyat as his illustrations were part of the lost jeweled copy that went down with the Titanic. Of course, this is not that fabled edition, but it does showcase brilliantly Vedder’s work and give us an idea of how marvelous that copy would be to behold in person.

The Riverside Press in Cambridge, Mass. did the printing for this edition.

Update 08/2022: Updated the layout, added more info, and added more pictures/replaced one.

Update 01/2024: Updated Titanic link.