[ RUMI ] Translated etc by A. J. Arberry.

The Ruba'iyat of Jalal Al-Din Rumi. Select Translations into English Verse [ Rubaiyat ].

London: Emery Walker, Ltd., 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Small quarto. xxviii + 210pp. Original green cloth lettered in gilt on spine, index. The handsome first publication in English of verses from the "Rubaiyat" of the great Persian sufi poet Rumi. The translator, Arthur John Arberry (1905-1969), was a renowned British oriental scholar whose publications were instrumental in bringing the works of Rumi to a broader Western audience. As a student Arberry had studied Persian and Arabic with R. A. Nicholson, translator and compiler of the eight volume edition of Rumi's Masnavi, and in later life he held various senior academic positions, including Chair of Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS, University of London and Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge University. Corner and spine ends lightly bumped and chafed, page edges and endpapers unevenly browned, handwritten Rumi quote offered as a gift inscription on front blank. Still overall a tight and otherwise unmarked VG+ copy (no dust jacket if called for). Item #58260

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