31
FIRST BOOK ON THE WORK OF AN
INDIAN ARTIST PUBLISHED IN THE
WEST
THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM [FITZGERALD'S
VERSION]
With 12 illustrations by Abanindro Nath Tagore
London: The Studio, 1910
Size: 12.5 x 9.5 inches
Original dropover portfolio with 12 colour plates, each
individually tipped-in on thick card sheets within frames
and covered with tissue guards carrying the quatrain on
which each painting is based printed in red.
Together with a 16-page string-bound booklet carrying
the 75 quatrains of the first edition [1859] of Edward
Fitzgerald'sversion
Portfolio of paper-covered boards with cloth spine and
with the title-ticket pasted on cover.
This large portfolio is not to be confused with the later
smaller versions issued by Leopold Hill in book form in
the 1920s.
The set of prints contained in original fold-over
portfolio.
Size of prints: 7.5 x 5.25 inches
Size of cardboard mounts: 12 x 9.5 inches
Size of portfolio: 12.5 x 9.5 inches
CONDITION: The portfolio lacks ties. Text booklet
darkened, some tissue covers of paintings crumpled.
The paintings of Abanindranath Tagore were being
printed in England since 1903 in the journal Studio
and in 1910 they decided to bring out a portfolio of 12
prints by him based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
translated by Edward Fitzgerald. A product of the fin de
siecle era of leisure and plenty, the portfolio - the first
full-dress work of an Indian artist published in the West
- was brought out as a collection of 12 colour plates
pasted on thick boards.
Rs 60,000-Rs 80,000
$925-$1,235