The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
1942 David McKay Company Pogany Edition

This 1942 David McKay Company editon is another Rubaiyat with illustrations from Willy Pogany. These are far more…provocative than the art in this other, earlier Pogany edition. Nude men and women abound. It was actually surprising some of the illustration choices for the poetry. It’s beautiful and what makes it notable.

The third piece of art pictured has a person doing, well, it looks like dabbing to me. If I were a weaker individual, I would have made a meme of it. But I will not. Instead, I will just appreciate its existence.

I like the simple framing of the quatrains.

Update 08/2023: Updated layout, tweaked copy, added pictures.