Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1913)

Illustrated by René Bull

 

 

 

To the left, we show a rare copy of the 1st Edition of

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám holding the suite of images

prepared by René Bull (that published by Hodder and

Stoughton [London] in 1913).

 

This example retains the original decoratively blue-, black-

and red-stamped ochre cloth cover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the right, we show the Title Page

complete with decorations from Bull.

 

The suite of colour and monotone illustrations prepared by René Bull for Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám have been identified

as among the most glorious produced by an artist during the Golden Age of Fantasy Illustration. Like his suite of illustrations

that accompanied The Arabian Nights (published a year earlier), those for Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám penetrate nearly

every page. His colour illustrations are tipped-in to pages prepared with elaborate borders and other marginal illustration

and each Quatrain is associated with either a colour or monotone illustration.

 

 

Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Prints 

 

 

For connoisseurs of Bull's work, we have prepared sets of 29 Greeting Cards displaying each of his colour images for Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1913) and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Code: RB ROK CS(29)
Price: US$145.00

 

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-on plates - in hommage to the hand-crafted

approach typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is

hand-finished and the images are presented on Ivory card stock with an accompanying envelope. The rear of each

card carries information about René Bull, this wonderful suite and the profiled illustration - we have left the interior

of the cards blank so that you may write your own personal message.

 

Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print of one or more of these images, we have provided some options below.

Each of these large format prints is also accompanied by information about René Bull, this suite and the profiled

illustration.

 

To purchase, simply click on the appropriate "Add to Cart" button and you will be taken through to our Shopping Cart

secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any

destination in the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every US$200 worth of purchases.

 

Of course, should you wish to discuss some customised options, we welcome your contact on any matter through

ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com.

 

In the meantime, enjoy perusing these wonderful images from René Bull.

 

 

The colour illustrations

 

Quatrain I

Awake! for morning in the Bowl of Night

Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:

And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught

The Sultán's Turret in a Noose of Light.

Quatrain V

Irám indeed is gone with all its Rose,

And Jamshýd's Sev'n-ring'd Cup where no one knows;

But still the Vine her ancient Ruby yields,

And still a Garden by the Water blows.

Quatrain VII

Come, fill the Cup, and in the Fire of Spring

The Winter Garment of Repentance fling:

The Bird of Time has but a little way

To fly - and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.

(Frontispiece)

 

 

Quatrain X

With me along some Strip of Herbage strown

That just divides the desert from the sown,

Where name of Slave and Sultán scarce is known,

And pity Sultán Máhmúd on this Throne.

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C1 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C2 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C3 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C4 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain X

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,

A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse - and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness -

And Wilderness is Paradise enow.

 

 

Quatrain XIV

The Worldly Hope men set their Hearts upon

Turns Ashes - or it prospers; and anon,

Like snow upon the Desert's dusty Face

Lighting a little Hour or two - is gone.

Quatrain XVI

Think, in this batter'd Caravanserai

Whose Doorways are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultán after Sultán with his Pomp

Abode his Hour or two, and went his way.

Quatrain XVII

They say the Lion and the Lizard keep

The Courts where Jamshýd gloried and drank deep;

And Bahrám, that great Hunter - the Wild Ass

Stamps o'er his Head, and hi lies fast aleep.

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C5 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C6 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C7 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C8 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain XIX

And this delightful Herb whose tender Green

Fledges the River's Lip on which we lean -

Ah! lean upon it lightly! for who knows

From what once lovely Lip it springs unseen!

 

 

Quatrain XXI

Lo! some we loved, the liveliest and the best

That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,

Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,

And once by one crept silently to Rest.

Quatrain XXIII

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,

Before we too into the Dust descend;

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,

Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and - sans End!

Quatrain XXIV

Alike for those who for To-day prepare,

And those that after a To-morrow stare,

A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries

'Fool! your Reward is neither Here no There!'

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C9 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C10 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C11 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C12 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain XXVI

Oh, come with Old Khayyám, and leave the Wise

To talk; one thing is certain, that Life flies;

One thing is certain, and the Rest is Lies;

The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.

 

 

Quatrain XXXI

Up from Earth's Centre through the Seventh Gate

I rose, and on the Throne of Saturn sate,

And many Knots unravel'd by the Road;

But not the Knot of Human Death and Fate.

Quatrain XXXII

There was a Door to which I found no Key:

There was a Veil past which I could not see:

Some little Talk awhile of Me and Thee

There seem'd - and then no more of Thee and Me.

Quatrain XXXIV

Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn

My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:

And Lip to Lip it murmur'd - 'While you live

Drink! - for once dead you never shall return.'

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C13 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C14 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C15 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C16 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain XXXVIII

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,

One Moment, of the Well of Life to taste -

The Stars are setting and the Caravan

Starts for the Dawn of Nothing - Oh, make haste!

 

 

Quatrain XL

You know, my Friends, how long since in my House

For a new Marriage I did make Carouse:

Divorced old barren Reason from my Bed,

And took the Daughter of the Vine to Spouse.

Quatrain XLII

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,

Came stealing through the Dusk an Angel Shape

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and

He bid me taste of it; and 'twas - the Grape!

Quatrain XLV

But leave the Wise to wrangle, and with me

The Quarrel of the Universe let be:

And, in some corner of the Hubbub coucht,

Make Game of that which makes as much of Thee.

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C17 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C18 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C19 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C20 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain XLVII

And if the Wine you drink, the Lip you press,

End in the Nothing all Things end in - Yes -

Then fancy while Thou art, Thou art but what

Thou shalt be - Nothing - Thou shalt not be less.

 

 

Quatrain XLVIII

While the Rose blows along the River Brink,

With old Khayyám the Ruby Vintage drink:

And when the Angel with his darker Draught

Draws up to Thee - take that, and do not shrink.

Quatrain LI

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

Quatrain LII

And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,

Whereunder crawling coop't we live and die,

Lift not thy hands to It for help - for It

Rolls impotently on as Thou or I.

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C21 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C22 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C23 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C24 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Quatrain LIII

With Earth's first Clay They did the last Man's knead,

And then of the Last Harvest sow'd the Seed:

Yea, the first Morning of Creation wrote

What the Last Dawn of Reckoning shall read.

 

 

Quatrain LVIII

Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didst make,

And who with Eden didst devise the Snake;

For all the Sin wherewith the Face of Man

Is blacken'd, Man's Forgiveness give - and take!

Quatrain LXVI

So while the Vessels one by one were speaking,

One spied the little Crescent all were seeking:

And they they jogg'd each other, 'Brother, Brother!

Hark to the Porter's Shoulder-knot a creaking'

Quatrain LXXIII

Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire

To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire,

Would not we shatter it to bits - and then

Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire!

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C25 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C26 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C27 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C28 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00

 

 
     

Quatrain LXXIV

Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane,

The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again:

How oft hereafter rising shall she look

Through this same Garden after me - in vain!

 

 

      

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: RB ROK C29 (12x18)
Price: US$60.00