The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî (1931)

 

Illustrated by Willy Pogány

 

 

 

 

On the left, we show a rare copy of the Willy Pogány illustrative interpretation of the The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî. The 1st Edition was published by David McKay Company (Philadelphia)

in 1931.

 

This example retains the original gold-stamped red cloth cover - one

of the original variant bindings known for the 1st Edition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî, as illustrated by Pogány, was an epic Poem written by Sir Richard Francis Burton - a

19th Century English explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientlist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer and

diplomat. While Burton proposed that The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî was an interpretation of a work introduced to

him by a friend, he is widely regarded as the original author.

 

The Introduction, provided by Dhan Gopal Mukerji, includes the following description of this wonderful work:

 

... Kasîdah is not only a poem, but the life-philosophy of a thoughtful man of action. It is a

unique work. It deserves to be read widely. It teaches us that skepticism too has its dignity;

pessimism its disciplines; and fatalism its acts of piety. Bohemianism, romanticism, and

sentimentalism are not only untrue, but unholy.

 

In this age of facile fatalism, Burton's Kasîdah ought to act like a tonic.

 

"Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but self seek applause: He noblest lives and

noblest dies who makes and keeps his self-made laws. All other life is living death, a world

where none but phantoms dwell. A breath, a wind, a sound, a voice, a tinkling of the

camel-bell!"

 

Pogány's monotone illustrations for The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî provide a splendid visual interpretation of Burton's

major philosophical work.

 

 

Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Prints

 

 

For connoisseurs of Pogány's work, we have prepared sets of 12 Greeting Cards displaying each of his images for The Kasîdah of Hâjî Abdű El-Yezdî and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Code: WP K MS(12)
Price: US$60.00

 

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, with the image presented on White card stock with an accompanying envelope. On the rear of each card

we also present some information about Willy Pogány and the profiled illustration. We have left the interior of the

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

 

Each of our large format reproductions are prepared with archival quality materials and processes to ensure many

years of enjoyment. In addition, our reproductions are accompanied by explanatory material relating to Willy Pogány

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 examples of the art of Willy Pogány.

 

 

The illustrations

 

Plate 1

How every high heroic Thought

That longed to breathe empyrean air,

Failed of its feathers, fell to earth,

And perished of a sheer despair

 

(Frontispiece)

 

 

Plate 2

O'er fiery waste and frozen wold,

O'er horrid hill and gloomy glen,

The home of grisly beast and Ghoul,

The haunts of wilder, grislier men

 

 

Plate 3

But you of finer, nobler, stuff,

Ye, whom to Higher leads the High,

What binds your hearts in common bond

With creatures of the stall and sty?

 

 

Plate 4

How may the passing Now contain

The standing Now - Eternity? -

An endless is without a was,

The be and never the to-be?

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 1 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 2 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 3 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 4 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Plate 5

That gentle Moon, the lesser light,

The Lover's lamp, the Swain's delight,

A ruined world, a globe burnt out,

A corpse upon the road of night.

 

 

Plate 6

The dreadest sound man's ear can hear.

The war and rush of stormy Wind

Depures the stuff of human life,

Breeds health and strength for humankind

Plate 7

Be ye Good Boys, go seek for Heaven,

Come pay the priest that holds the key:

So spake, and speaks, and aye shall speak

The last to enter Heaven

Plate 8

The Soul required a greater Soul,

A Soul of Souls, to rule the host:

Hence spirit-powers and hierarchies,

All gendered by the savage Ghost

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 5 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 6 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 7 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 8 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Plate 9

Hard to the heart is final death:

Fain would an Ens not end in Nil;

Love made the sentiment kindly good:

The Priest perverted all to ill

 

 

Plate 10

Safely he jogs along the way

Which 'Golden Mean' the sages call;

Who scales the brow of frowning Alp

Must face full many a slip and fall

Plate 11

Be thine own Deus: Make self free,

Liberal as the circling air:

Thy Thought to thee and Empire be;

Break every prisoning lock and bar

Plate 12

Wend now the way with brow serene.

Fear not thy humble tale to tell: -

The whispers of the Desert-wind;

The tinkling of the camel's bell

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 9 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 10 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 11 12x18
Price: US$60.00

 

 

Reproduction on 12x18" sheet

Code: WP K 12 12x18
Price: US$60.00