Book Information:
| Title | Rubaiyat Of Omar Khayyam - Collotype Illustrations |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | |
| Author | Fitzgerald, Edward |
| Publisher | Dodge Publishing Company |
| Publish Date | 1905 |
| ISBN | |
| Pages | 134 |
| Binding | Hardcover |
| Notes | Dodge Publishing., NY., 1905. Small quarto, original tancloth stamped in three colours plus black. 134 pages, printed one side only, plus 28 full page sepia-tone collotype photographs. Adelaide Hanscom. (illustrator) pioneer in the use of photographs for the illustration of books. Many of the images are erotic explorations - very courageous for the era.The iimages are exemplary displays of Adelaide Hanscom's stylized photography. She was a female pioneer in the manner of male contemporaries Man Ray, Steichen, Steiglitz et al. . . . advancing photography as an artform rather than a pedestrian medium for just chronicling events. An especially rare high grade copy of this 1905 First edition. The only edition with the complete set of original photographs as all the negatives were destroyed when her studio was burned to the ground in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Illustrated with Adelaide Hascom (Leeson)'s photographs, which used poets Joaquin Miller and George Sterling, and lecturer and photographer George Wharton James as models. Reprinted many times, but this is the only edition (1905) using these photographs, since all the negatives were destroyed when Miss Hascom's San Francisco studio burned to the ground in the earthquake of 1906. This 1905 edition of the classic Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam may be the most beautiful edition ever published. The illustrations by Adelaide Hanscom make one wonder why she is not better known. Beautiful and haunting, they are a mixture of Art Deco and Art Nouveau with overtones of Munch, Alma-Tadema, and the Pre-Raphaelites. As an example, the frontispiece is a dark woman appearing to rise for the day in an elaborate framework with the sun at the top; at the end, the woman is appearing to sink down while the framework reflects the moon. The edition is generously illustrated, obviously meant as a premium edition, with a full-page plate every few pages and occasionally every page.There appear to have been two bindings for this version; the leather was sumptuous for the time, but as the illustrations show, leather often does not age well. The other is hardcover with red, blue, and gold symbolic motifs inset into the cover. In both editions, pages are hand-cut.This book is notable for its Arts-and-Crafts design, the subjects (both nudes and artists of the time like Joachim Miller), and the fact that the photographer was a woman. Adelaide Hanscom, of San Francisco, photographed from 1900 to 1916, heavily manipulating her glass plates to affect a painterly, pictorialist style. Her images in this book are allegorical tableaux, featuring figures in ancient costume, enacting parts of Kháyyám's verse.The first edition was printed on at least two different types of tissue, one limp and thin, and the other stiff and parchment-like. Dodge published many subsequent editions of this popular title with Hascom's photographic illustrations, in at least three smaller sizes, all with halftones, sometimes in color. In a 1912 edition, Blanch Cumming, another San Francisco photographer, was inexplicably also credited, although no additional illustrations appeared. In 1906, the San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed Hanscom's entire studio, including her Rubaiyat negatives. A decade later she provided similarly dreamy illustrations for an edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, but her Rubaiyat images represent most of Hanscom's print legacy, as her silver prints are rare. Translated into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald, 134pp. printed on one side only, plus 28 full page sepia-tone collotype photographs, bound in off-white cloth lettered in yellow with decorations stamped in yellow, red, blue and black, contemporary owner's name, one page has wrinkling to large portion of one corner with small closed tear on a page of text otherwise a very nice copy with covers somewhat soiled. Adelaide Hanscom was one of California's leading women photographers. Illustrations are on a glossier paper. This title consist of photographs she took with the help of her friends Joaquin Miller, George Sterling, George James and others as models including some nude which was very daring for the time, costumes used were by Orlof Orlow who also helped her with information on Persian symbolism. |
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| TRRF Call No. | PH-00029R |
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