[Illuminated Manuscript] The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the Astonomer Poet of Persia

1922. Full Limp Red Calf. Slipcase -- marbled paper pastedown on all sides other than opening. Chemise or inner folder -- thick glossy card stock, all sides, other than that has red calf, with title label. Emily Swinton. Magnificent illuminated manuscript version of the Rubaiyat, or some verses from the Rubaiyat. The illuminated borders are singular -- their design is unlike that we are familiar with, and not even vaguely similar to anything we have ever seen produced by a latter-day illuminator, professional or amateur. Their tracery is of blues, greens, reds, some yellow in a few instances, and not least, the all important gilt. The illuminator surely was paying homage to some Islamic and Persian illumination in her palette, but overall these sources are but influences; the illuminations are far from merely imitative. The design pulls you in, and as one gazes longer one will discover small figurative imagery woven into the lines and swirls of the larger ornamentation. Words are beyond us to come close to capturing their complexity and character -- our photos hopefully will impart something of that. Let us just say the colors are deep and bold. Within these extraordinary borders is the calligraphic text rendered in a stunning, easily legible Gothic Fraktur script. And there are four dream-like miniature watercolors as well of scenic Persian villages. N.d., circa early 1920s. 4to. 28.5 by 19 cm. Unpaginated, 14 leaves with illumination -- illumination on one side. The back side of the leaf then left blank. Tissue guards for each page with illumination. The first leaf has no text -- it is a rectangular abstract design suggestive perhaps of a spectacular rug and inspired by such illuminated painting as one finds in many an antiquarian Koran. The next leaf is the title page with the words appearing to float on the page. The lettering has a distinctive verticality, and the gilt letters are both clearly the letters they are supposed to be but have an abstraction that one can imagine they are Arabic script as well. The last two leaves, with a more restrained, formalistic illumination, has evenly spaced dome-shaped pointers as one finds in Koranic decoration to highlight important passages. The binding, slipcase and chemise are functional but don't really do the contents justice. Other than some crease marks on the calf and light wear overall to these protective features, the binding and slipcase present no issues.