The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
~1930s Three Sirens Press Sullivan Edition
A wonderfully sturdy and simple Rubaiyat edition with Edmund J. Sullivan’s fantastically bizarre artwork. I love it for the artwork alone.
There is one thing of interest from a history standpoint: On the last page of the book, it has a list of other editions put out by the publisher. This is neither that unique nor that interesting, except at the bottom of the page it says that it’s the Illustrated Editions Co., Inc. and The Three Sirens Press line is below it. I have a 1938 copy from the Illustrated Editions Company here. This publisher detail plus some research leads me to believe they’re the same place. Despite this, I’ve labeled the publisher for this edition as the Three Sirens Press.
Eventually, I may add relationships between publishers to the site to show how they are connected, but for now, let this note serve as it!
Publisher: Three Sirens Press (104 Fifth Avenue, New York City, USA)
Year: n.d. (research leads to 1930s)
Artist: Edmund J. Sullivan
The Book Itself
Dark bluish-green cover. Thin and sturdy make. The edges of the pages are rough (you can see it in some of the pictures). It’s a nice Rubaiyat copy.
The Poetry
Simple and direct typography that is very similar if not the same as this Cameo Classics Sullivan edition. Contains both the first and fifth version text.
The Illustrations
Sullivan’s art is always a trippy pleasure to behold. He has done so many ‘out there’ illustrations for the Rubaiyat. I’ve included pictures of some of the more weirder ones. The pages with the artwork are a bit slicker than the rest of the pages.
History/Information Sourcing
According to Wikipedia, Three Sirens Press was active (only?) in the 1930s. I was led to this information by this eBay Listing stating such and I could only find Wikipedia backing it up. There was also this thread on LibraryThing saying that Illustrated Editions Company was an imprint of it/vice versa, which makes sense, given the final page of the book.