THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM

New York: The Alice Harriman Company, 1911. First Edition with these plates. 304 x 237 mm. (12 x 9 3/8"). [18] leaves.Translated by Edward FitzGerald.
Publisher's brown cloth, upper cover with printed illustration, smooth spine, top edge gilt, others plain. With cover illustration and 19 black & white plates by Isabel Hawxhurst Hall. SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR to her cousin, Dr. George Coopernail, on the front free endpaper. Potter 272; Paas 2474. ◆Corners and one top edge a bit bumped, small tear at tail of spine, just a whisper of offsetting internally, but these issues of no great consequence, and on the whole A FINE COPY of a book not easily kept this well preserved.

This is an exceptionally pleasing copy of FitzGerald's Rubaiyat illustrated by the young artist Isabel Hawxhurst Hall, with plates reproducing her original charcoal illustrations. Deeply influenced by Elihu Vedder's images of the Rubaiyat, Hall's work features similarly ethereal figures, darkly poignant compositions, and a style that shows a great interest in the effects of light and shadow; however, Hall's technique is looser than Vedder's, and her images more free-flowing, reflecting a personal aesthetic that seems far more mature than her age would seem to warrant (she was just 23 when she completed this suite of drawings). Hall (1887-1952) was a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and was best known for her stained glass, which she produced for more than 25 years. The present work seems to be the only book Hall ever illustrated, and it is uncommon in the marketplace..