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The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

An Updated Bibliography

9789087280963
252 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
This book fills a gap by providing a new selection and description of almost 900 editions of the world-famous Persian quatrains: The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. This is the first bibliography since the first Rubáiyát bibliography by A.G. Potter, published in 1929.

Omar Khayyám lived in the 11th Century. A Persian homo universalis, he was a mathematician, scientist, philosopher, astronomer and poet. He is believed to have written 200 to 600 Rubáiyát (quatrains) in Persian. His Rubáiyát has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Russian, Urdu and many other languages. It has been published in numerous editions: precious volumes with jeweled bindings, artist's books, scholarly and critical editions, forgeries and fake editions, making The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám a perfect object for book collectors and lovers of poetry.

Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám has been one of the world's most popular books. Since the first version in 1859, new editions, reprints and translations have appeared in an almost endless flow, varying from plain text to highly decorated, illustrated editions and from almost microscopic miniatures to monumental, oversized volumes. FitzGerald's translation stands out, but there are hundreds of other translations, from many countries, and you will find them all in this book.
Author Bio
Jos Coumans is a librarian and has been the secretary of the Dutch Omar Khayyám Society since 1997. Asghar Seyed-Gohrab is Professor of Iranian and Persian Studies at Utrecht University in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, and member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He has published extensively on Persian literature, mysticism and religion. His publications range from Persian poetry to Sufism and the role of religious and mystical motifs and metaphors in Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988) and how peaceful religious injunctions are used to justify violence. Currently, he is the Principal Investigator (PI) of an ERC-Advanced Grant entitled Beyond Sharia: The Role of Sufism in Shaping Islam (www.beyondsharia.nl), examining Islamic non-conformist movements.