FitzGerald, Edward: Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (illustrated), v1, 23 Dec 2007
 

Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám of Naishápúr

Edward Fitzgerald added so much to this alleged translation that he is generally credited as the author.

I’ve included the first and 5th editions of the poem (FitzGerald kept tinkering with it), plus FitzGerald’s Latin version, and some essays at the end.

I have added a lot of pictures (from an out-of-copyright 1921 edition), a TOC, preserved the accents and reformatted.

Omar Khayyám seems to have enjoyed wine, love and reading: an eminently sensible set of priorities. Here’s the 11th quatrain:

XI
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.