The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
1932 Walter J. Black Companion Classics Edition

This 1932 Walter J. Black edition contains not only the FitzGerald translation, but a translation by E.H. Whinfield and a prose version by Justin Huntly McCarthy. Beyond that, it has a poem by Mathilde Blind, a bibliography of other translations, other padding/intro content, and comparisons between the versions.

The prose version is actually quite shocking and fascinating to me (in that it exists period). The Whinfield translation is also interesting. Neither of the alternative versions hold a candle to me to the FitzGerald version, but they have academic value.

This edition seems to be part of the publisher’s Companion Classics series. All have an introduction by Ben Ray Redman.

I noticed an error in the printing/interior: in the “To Omar Khayyam by Andrew Lang” poem, the right side page header is titled ‘Translators’ rather than … of the title of the poem. Speaking of that, I am very appreciative that each section has a unique header title. Easy to know what I am looking at at a glance!

The Book Itself

The cover is kind of disintegrating.

The Poetry