The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam: The World’s Most Beloved Oriental Classic

Over a century ago, Edward FitzGerald could hardly have imagined the cultural treasure he was unlocking when he first translated Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat into English. What began as a modest experiment in translation would soon grow into one of the most celebrated poems in the world—and perhaps the single most popular piece of Eastern literature in the Western imagination.

A Jewel Hidden in Plain Sight

FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat is an anomaly in the world of translation. Most translated works lose some of their beauty in the process, yet FitzGerald’s rendering did the opposite: it elevated Khayyam’s verses to new heights of lyrical power and universal resonance. Through his work, Khayyam’s voice reached some of the greatest literary minds of the 19th century and sparked a wave of admiration that has never truly faded.

Remarkably, the story of how the Rubaiyat found its audience is almost as poetic as the verses themselves. When the book was first published in 1859 by London bookseller Bernard Quaritch, it languished in obscurity, even ending up in the shop’s “penny box.” It might have disappeared entirely if not for the keen eye of Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes. He purchased a copy, shared it with his friend Dante Gabriel Rossetti in July 1861, and from there, the book began to circulate among the most influential artists and thinkers of the day.

From Obscurity to Literary Fame

Rossetti passed the book along to Charles Swinburne, who shared it with George Meredith, then to William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, John Ruskin, and even the Brownings. Each new admirer added to the poem’s momentum, propelling it across literary circles in Britain and eventually to America. By the 1880s, the verses had become so deeply embedded in Western literary culture that schoolchildren were required to memorize them. By the time of World War I, the Rubaiyat had become not just a poem but a cultural phenomenon.

Praise from Giants of Literature

The Rubaiyat’s appeal stretched far beyond academic appreciation; it captured hearts. Oscar Wilde once ranked it alongside Shakespeare’s sonnets, calling it “a masterpiece of art.” Mark Twain and T.S. Eliot both admired its beauty and depth, praising Khayyam’s philosophical insights and FitzGerald’s poetic craftsmanship.

When the English painter John Ruskin first encountered the poem, he confessed, “I never did—till this day—read anything so glorious.” His awe mirrors the sentiment of countless readers who, since the 19th century, have discovered in the Rubaiyat a work that transcends cultures, languages, and centuries.

Why It Endures

What makes the Rubaiyat so enduring is its timeless blend of philosophy and poetry. Khayyam’s verses wrestle with universal questions—mortality, love, joy, fate—wrapped in imagery that remains vivid and moving even today. FitzGerald’s translation, though a creative interpretation rather than a strict rendering, gave those ideas wings, allowing them to soar far beyond their Persian roots into the collective imagination of the world.

A Legacy That Lives On

From a dusty corner of a London bookshop to the shelves of literary giants, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam has traveled an extraordinary journey. More than just one of the world’s ten best-known poems, it is a bridge between East and West, a reminder of how art can cross borders and generations to speak to something universal within us all.

Even now, over a hundred years later, readers continue to open FitzGerald’s pages and find themselves echoing Ruskin’s words: “I never did—till this day—read anything so glorious.”

 The Most Famous Edition of the Rubaiyat and Its Astonishing Value

When it comes to rare books, few stories are as dramatic—or as tragic—as that of the most famous edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The jeweled masterpiece created by London bookbinders Sangorski & Sutcliffe in 1911 represents not only the height of artistic craftsmanship but also one of the greatest cultural losses of the 20th century.

The Jeweled Edition: A Lost Treasure

Commissioned during the golden age of fine bookbinding, this extraordinary copy was bound in rich Moroccan leather, its surface adorned with more than 1,000 precious stones and finished with lavish gold embroidery. In 1912, it was purchased for £405—roughly equivalent to nearly £46,000 (or about $56,000 in today’s terms).

Yet its fate was sealed almost immediately. Just weeks after being sold, the book was placed aboard the Titanic. When the great ship went down in April 1912, so too did this jeweled Rubaiyat. Its true value, of course, cannot be measured in money. More than a luxury item, it symbolized the reverence and popularity the poem had achieved in the Western world. Its loss became part of the Titanic’s wider legend.

A Legacy of Editions

While the jeweled copy remains the most famous, it is only one chapter in the extraordinary publishing history of the Rubaiyat. Since Edward FitzGerald’s first translation in 1859, hundreds of editions have been printed in English and other languages. The variety is astonishing: from small pocket-sized volumes to richly illustrated folios, in bindings that range from simple paper covers to ornate, hand-tooled leather.

FitzGerald himself released four main editions:

• First Edition (1859): Contained 75 quatrains, with only 250 copies printed in paper wrappers. Today, a fine copy of this edition can fetch upwards of $25,000.
• Second Edition (1868): Expanded to 110 quatrains.
• Third Edition (1872): Revised down to 101 quatrains.
• Fourth Edition (1879): Retained 101 quatrains, differing only slightly from the third—just 17 words and 18 punctuation marks.

More Printed Than Almost Any Other Book

With the exception of the Bible and Shakespeare’s collected works, the Rubaiyat is believed to be one of the most frequently printed texts in the world. Its continuous republication in countless forms speaks to its enduring appeal, bridging cultures and centuries. Whether in the form of a rare, jeweled edition lost at sea or a humble paper-bound copy, Omar Khayyam’s verses continue to enchant readers worldwide.