Khayyam (Omar) Collection of Material, 1872-1948

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Summary

Title:
Collection of Material about Omar Khayyam,
Dates:
1872-1948
Abstract:
Omar Khayyam (1048?-1131) was a Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician of the early Seljuk period and is best known for a collection of Rubáiyát, or quatrains, known as the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam. The collection contains materials related to the work of Omar Khayyam and scholars who studied his works, much of it collected by Ambrose George Potter in the course of his biographical compilations.
Extent:
5 boxes (2.5 linear ft.)
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Collection of Material about Omar Khayyam (Collection 378). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection contains materials related to the work of Omar Khayyam and scholars who studied his works, much of it collected by Ambrose George Potter in the course of his biographical compilations. Includes manuscripts, correspondence, illustrations, clippings, photographs, bibliographical notes, catalogs, theater programs, sheet music and ephemera pertaining to productions based on the work of Omar Khayyam. Contains letters to Omar bibliographer Ambrose George Potter, manuscripts from translators, and articles, essays and ephemera pertaining to translator Edward FitzGerald's life and works.

Portions of the collection are in Persian, German and Spanish.

Biographical / historical:

Omar Khayyam (1048?-1131) was a Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician of the early Seljuk period, best known for a collection of Rubáiyát, or quatrains, known as the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam; in 1859 the English translator Edward FitzGerald selected and combined 101 of the quatrains into a single work, producing a continuity that created an English language masterpiece; FitzGerald's work was publicized by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and the emphasis on the sensuous enrichment of life helped to influence the Decadent school of English poetry in the 1890s; since FitzGerald, the Rubáiyát has been translated into numerous languages. Ambrose George Potter was the outstanding bibliographer of Omar, and author of A Bibliography of Printed Editions of the Quatrains of Omar Khayyam in Foreign Languages (1923) and A Bibliography of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, Together With Kindred Matter in Prose and Verse Pertaining Thereto (1929); he also completed work on a revised and enlarged edition of his 1929 bibliography, but his materials were destroyed by fire in 1938 before publication, and he did not publish another edition before his death in the late 1940s.

Physical location:
Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Sufi poetry, Persian--Translations.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by UCLA Library Special Collections staff; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé and edited by Josh Fiala.
Date Prepared:
© 2000
Date Encoded:
Text rekeyed by Caroline Cubé from in-house paper finding aid, September 1999 . Machine-readable finding aid derived from rekeyed finding aid, encoding added via Notetab Pro. Online finding aid edited by Josh Fiala. Date of source: unknown .

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Collection of Material about Omar Khayyam (Collection 378). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.

Location of this collection:
A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
Contact:
(310) 825-4988
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu
Website