The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
1902 Thomas B. Mosher Bernard Quaritch 1859 Facsimile 1/40 Edition

This edition is fantastic for a collector such as myself. Printer for/published by Thomas B. Mosher in 1902, it is effectively a ‘copy’ of the first printed Rubaiyat edition by Bernard Quaritch in 1859. “Reproduced by photo-lithographic process in exact facsimile” it says (which is fascinating and amazing). It has the first edition’s interior, along with facsimiles of the initial editions’ title pages. Not only that, it has descriptions of those editions.

The introduction of this unique edition is just too good for me to just include a sample, so I have the entire introduction photographed here. I feel kinship to Mosher in how he described his endeavors in this edition and I thank him and his colleagues for compiling this edition and publishing it.

One of my favorite parts of the introduction:

“World-classic that the Rubaiyat has become, it can never be reprinted too often, though some of its admirers render scant justice to the eternal verities of book-making. Those who would see what the original was like in its utter lack of adornment may now behold it in our reproduction of the modest brown-wrappered pamphlet of forty-three years ago. It will live, reclad even in its old simple attire, perhaps the nearer to one’s heart because in such “beggarly disguise “ it more fully represents the spirit of him who bequeathed, once and forever, great verse unto a little clan.”

“It can never be reprinted too often” - if that were not true, this site would not exist!

This edition is really a dream come true as it’s akin to having one of the originals. Definitely a highlight of my collection.

1902 Thomas B. Mosher Bernard Quaritch 1859 Facsimile 1/40 Edition

Publisher: Thomas B. Mosher (XLV Exchange Street Portland Maine)

Year: 1902

Added to Site: 2023-02-26

The Book Itself

This edition has only 40 copies. My copy is No. 3 and it is signed by Thomas B. Mosher himself. It is printed on Japanese vellum. It comes in a box and the cover is wrapped with a paper jacket.

Box

Box Spine

Book spine

Cover

Title Page - The Editio Princeps 1859

Number 3/40, Mosher's Signature

Frontispiece

Protective film between frontispiece and title page

Title Page (Actual) - "Reproduced by photo-lithographic process in exact facsimile" of the 1859 edition

Introduction Title

Intro Poem from "Sister Songs by Francis Thompson"

Introduction Pg. 1

Introduction Pg. 2

Introduction Pg. 3

Introduction Pg. 4 - About the 1859 first edition

Introduction Pg. 5 - About the 1859 first edition

Introduction Pg. 6 - About the 1859 first edition

Introduction Pg. 7 - About the 1859 first edition

Introduction Pg. 8 - About the 1868 second edition

Introduction Pg. 9 - About the 1872 third edition

Introduction Pg. 10 - About the 1872 third edition

Introduction Pg. 11 - About the 1872 third edition

Introduction Pg. 12 - About the 1872 third edition

Introduction Pg. 13 - About the 1879 fourth edition

Introduction Pg. 14 - About the 1870 first printed American edition

Introduction Pg. 15 - About the 1870 first printed American edition

Introduction Pg. 16 - About the 1870 first printed American edition

Introduction Pg. 17 - About the 1878 first published American edition

Introduction Pg. 18 - About the 1900 "smallest Omar in the World"

Introduction Pg. 19 - About the 1900 "smallest Omar in the World"

Introduction Pg. 20

Introduction Pg. 21

Facsimiles of Title-Pages

Title page of the second edition, Quaritch 1868 (facsimile)

Title page of the third edition, Quaritch 1872 (facsimile)

Title page of the fourth edition, Quaritch 1879 (facsimile)

Title page of the first printed American edition, 1870 (facsimile)

Title page of the first published American edition, James R. Osgood and Company 1878 (facsimile)

Title page of the "smallest Omar in the world", 1900 (facsimile)

Facsimile of the First Edition, 1859, 'Title page'

Title page of the first edition, Quaritch 1859 (facsimile)

Title page (2) of the first edition, Quaritch 1859 (facsimile)

First edition printer

Omar Khayyam (first ed. facsimile)

Notes (first ed. facsimile)

The Poetry

Quatrain I-III (facsimile of the first edition)

Quatrain IV-VIII (facsimile of the first edition)

Quatrain IX-XIII (facsimile of the first edition)

Quatrain LXII-LXXV (facsimile of the first edition)

History/Information Sourcing

You may notice that the Roman Numerals for the year are not standard and don’t ‘convert’ with a tool such as this. It’s the same Roman Numeral quirk that I discovered in this 1910 T.N. Foulis Maurice Greiffenhagen Miniature Edition. DCCCC is equivalent to CM, basically.

The intro poem is from “Sister Songs by Francis Thompson”. I just searched the text to determine this.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: 1902 Thomas B. Mosher Bernard Quaritch 1859 Facsimile 1/40 Edition

The Book Itself

The Poetry

History/Information Sourcing

Curated by Sarah Sunday and others as noted

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
1902 Thomas B. Mosher Bernard Quaritch 1859 Facsimile 1/40 Edition