It remained under the direct control of three successive generations of the Zaehnsdorf family.Bindings produced by the firm of Zaehnsdorf are still admired today the excellence of craftsmanship which they display' (Broomhead, The Zaehnsdorfs (1842-1947): Craft Bookbinders, p. One which can is Zaehnsdorf Limited, founded in 1842 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf. 'There are few firms of craft bookbinders that can claim an existence of longer than one hundred years. Deathbed scenes were a popular staple of fiction and the cowled figure stalked through quite a few novels. In the Rubáiyat, as the day wears on, its mostly agnostic protagonist becomes increasingly preoccupied by thoughts of mortality and judgment in a possible afterlife, and this too perfectly matched the Victorian preoccupation with death. The doubts and fears of the twelfth-century Persian philosopher were shared by many of his English and American readers. Already in 1850, in 'In Memoriam', Tennyson had raised questions about Christian doctrine and the immortality of the soul, only to dismiss them with suspicious glibness.

A few years later, Matthew Arnold would publish 'Dover Beach', in which the melancholy long retreat of the 'Sea of Faith' left humanity on a 'darkling plain'. The first version of the Rubáiyat had been published in 1859, the same year that Darwin's Origin of the Species had appeared.

Edward FitzGerald's version of Omar Khayyam's quatrains was widely read only after it was taken up by the Pre-Raphaelites in 1861. 1896' and similar ink inscription on rear blank 'Christmas 1896'. 1896 (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in) and with oval gilt 'Exhibition' stamp on rear paste-down which was used for only their finest work. An early and near fine 'Exhibition' binding by Zaehnsdorf executed ca. Minimal rubbing to front joint, otherwise fine. Housed in a black cloth-lined quarter dark green morocco over black cloth boards clamshell case, spine with five raised bands lettered in gilt in compartments. Gilt ruled board edges, elaborate gilt floral design turn-ins, marbled end-papers, top edge gilt.

Spine with five raised bands, elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments. Front cover decoratively lettered in gilt. Full dark green morocco, covers elaborately decorated in gilt in a densely massed, glittering carpet of small gilt leaves against which appear sixteen gilt roses on the front cover and twelve on the rear cover. 1896 by Zaehnsdorf, stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in and with small oval gilt 'exhibition' stamp on rear paste-down. Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám the Astronomer-Poet of Persia. A Fine and Early Exhibition Binding by Zaehnsdorf.

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