RUBAIVAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM. Rendered into "Eng- lish Verse by
Edward Fitzgerald. With Decorations by "Fish." (John Lane. 21s. net.) Christmas without a new illustrated edition of the Rubiliyat is as unlikely as a man without sin. But there are sins and sins, and although it is difficult to imagine an illustrated Rubbly/it that would be a virtue, we can at least rank some of them with the more pleasing sins. John Lane's edition is the better for drink. "Fish," in an exuberance Of fantastic design, rich colour—gold and silver—adds some posthumous trails of glory to that poem round which the shades of the prison-house are so incredibly long in closing. The faces and figures in her designs retain her Anniliarratirr shallow humour but they are set in a barbaric splendour that would not have become a modest, modern Eve. Her illustrations do not bear close scrutiny. She has no sense of form or organization, but a happy vitality and crowded richness lift the edition out of the rut of ChriStinas books. The initial letters and arrangement of the quatrains on the page are bad.
Previous page
