97. Rubáiyát | Of | Omar Khayyám, | The Astronomer-Poet Of Persia. | Translated into English Verse. | London: | Bernard Quaritch, | Castle Street, Leicester Square. | 1859.
Fitzgerald first offered his translation to the editor of Fraser's Magazine, who returned it after holding it a long time, apparently afraid to publish it. It was not until years afterward that the poet, having nearly doubled the number of the verses, issued it himself, anonymously, inserting in the imprint, without even asking permission, the name of Bernard Quaritch.
The little pamphlet in brown paper, with its eleven pages of biography, and five pages of notes, against sixteen pages of poem, was not attractive in appearance; and we are told that it was not advertised in any way except by entry among the Oriental numbers of Quaritch's catalogue. So it is really not to be greatly wondered at that its sale was slow, even though the price was set as low as five shillings. Two hundred copies remaining on his hands, Quaritch, who had consented to act as bookseller, finally resorted to the expedient of offering them at half-a-crown, then at a shilling, then at sixpence, until finally they were cleared out at a penny a volume.
Those who read it at this price acted as leaven, and nine years afterward, in 1868, a second edition was called for; a third was published in 1872, and a fourth in 1879. These were all issued by Quaritch at his own expense, and all without the translator's name. Quaritch paid Fitzgerald a small honorarium, which he promptly gave away in charity.
Octavo.
Collation: xiii, 21 pp.