SECTION A: Books written, co-written or translated by Robert Graves

A119 SIXTEEN POEMS 1967

First edition:

[all flush left:] SIXTEEN POEMS | BY ROBERT GRAVES | ILLUSTRATED BY ROMAYNE DAWNAY | OXFORD COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY 1967

Collation: [1-32], 16 leaves.

p. [1] [all flush left:] SIXTEEN POEMS | BY ROBERT GRAVES; p. [2] blank; p. [3] blank; p. [4] illustration; p. [5] title-page; p. [6] blank; p. [7] table of contents; pp. [8] blank; pp. [9] – [30] text, with illustrations on pp. [10, 17, 19, 22, 25, 28, 30]; p. [32] [all flush left, unjustified right margin:] Produced in an edition of 75 copies at the | College of Technology, Oxford. | With the exception of ‘In Single Syllables’ and | ‘The Intrusion’ published in MORE POEMS, 1961, | this selection has been made from | COLLECTED POEMS 1965 and is reprinted | by kind permission of Mr. Robert Graves. | copy number [number written in by hand in black ink]

24.7 × 18.5 cm. Bulk: 0.3/0.9 cm. White laid paper, watermarked Chantry; all edges trimmed. Green-yellow laid endpapers, watermarked with a crown and Lonbury. Bound in pale grey cloth; back and spine blank; front stamped in gold across top: SIXTEEN POEMS BY ROBERT GRAVES; below in black is illustration of a woman’s head. Copies are also seen bound in pale green-grey cloth which are otherwise as above.

Contents: Symptoms of Love – The Cure – Troughs of Sea – The Death Grapple – The Falcon Woman – The Starred Coverlet – Apple Island – Under the Olives – Patience – The Laugh – In Single Syllables – The Intrusion – Hag-Ridden – Seldom Yet Now – The Visitation – The Sharp Ridge.

Notes: Also seen, an unnumbered copy bound in unprinted coarse green cloth; 23.3 × 18.1 cm.; white laid paper watermarked Chantry; all edges trimmed; white wove endpapers.

Unillustrated edition:

[all flush left:] SIXTEEN POEMS | BY ROBERT GRAVES | COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY | OXFORD | 1967

Collation: [1-24], 12 leaves.

p.[1] [flush left:] SIXTEEN POEMS; p.[2] blank; p.[3] title-page; p.[4] blank; p.[5] table of contents; p.[6] blank; pp.[7] –[22] text; p.[23] blank; p.[24] [unjustified right margin:] Designed, printed and bound in an edition of 75 copies | at the College of Technology, Oxford, 1967 by kind | permission of Mr. Robert Graves. With the exception of ‘In Single Syllables’ and ‘The Intrusion’ published in More Poems 1961, this selection | has been made from Collected Poems 1965 Robert Graves.

18.4 ×12.2 cm. Bulk: 0.2/0.4 cm. Grey laid paper, watermarked with a crown and Abbey Mills | Greenfield; all edges trimmed. White laid endpapers, watermarked as text paper. Bound in dark reddish-violet cloth; back and spine blank; frontstamped in gold, flush left: SIXTEEN POEMS:

Price: undetermined. Number of copies: unknown. Published 1967.

Notes: The description above is from the second edition of this bibliography.

A copy has been seen with the following characteristics: The book printed on pale violet laid paper, watermarked with a crown and Abbey Mills | Greenfield; pale violet laid endpapers, watermarked as text paper; dimensions: 18.4 × 12.4 cm., no colon after the the word ‘POEMS’ on front cover.

As this publication was a student printing project, it seems several variations exist.

A120 THE RUBAIYYAT OF OMAR KHAYAAM [1967]

a. First edition:

Collation: [1]–[6], 48 leaves.

p.[i] THE RUBAIYYAT OF | OMAR KHAYAAM; p.[ii] blank; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] publisher’s, copyright, publication and printing notices; p.[v] CONTENTS; p.[vi] blank; pp.1–31 THE FITZ-OMAR CULT | ROBERT GRAVES; pp.32–45[46] HISTORICAL PREFACE | OMAR ALI-SHAH; p.[47] THE RUBAIYYAT; p.[48] NOTE; pp.49–76 text; pp.77–81 NOTES; pp.82–83 TWO COMPARATIVE RENDERINGS; pp.84–86 bibliographies; pp.[87]–[90] blank.

21.5 × 15.1 cm. Bulk: 0.8/1.5 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Light sage-green wove endpapers, watermarked: ja-Bülten and a blade of grass. Bound in new-blue cloth; front and back blank; spine stamped in gold, bottom to top: CassellThe Rubaiyyat of OMAR KHAYAAM.

Price: 21s. Number of copies unknown. Published 9 November 1967 in dark buff laid dust-jacket printed in blue and black and watermarked with a crown and: Lonbury. Dust-jacket design by David Scurfield.

Notes: There s a variant copy in tan laid endpapers.

Impressions: 2nd, 1967; 3rd, 1968.

Extracts were published in the Weekend Telegraph on 13 October 1967. See C825.

John Updike Books, Catalogue 12, 1998 offered an edition of A120 published by Amber Press, Edinburgh, 1969 and produced by students of Napier College as a printing exercise. Not seen.

This book has been translated into Thai.

A120b. First American edition (1968):

Collation: [1] – [6]8, 48 leaves.

p.[i] The Original Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayaam | [French rule]; p.[ii] blank; p.[iii] title-page; p.[iv] LC card, copyright, and edition notices; p.[v] CONTENTS; p.[vi] blank; p.[vii] as p.[i] p.[viii] blank; pp.1–31 The Fitz-Omar Cult; pp.32–45[46] Historical Preface; p.[47] THE RUBAIYYAT; p.[48] NOTE; pp.49–76text; pp.77–86 NOTES; pp.[87]–[88] blank.

23.1 × 15.4 cm. Bulk: 0.7/0.9 cm. White wove paper; top and bottom edges trimmed. White wove endpapers outer sides printed yellow. Bound in black cloth with white cloth spine; front and back blank; spine printed in black, top to bottom: The Original Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayaam ROBERT GRAVES and OMAR ALI-SHAH DOUBLEDAY

Price: $5.00. Number of copies: 12,000. Published 17 May 1968 in white dust-jacket printed in yellow, purple and black. Jacket design by Lawrence Ratzkin.

Notes: There was a second impression in 1968.

There was also a limited issue, called a ‘Limited Edition’ of this edition. It has an additional leaf before p.[i]: This is a limited edition of five hundred autographed copies of which this is number [line with number written on it] | [signatures of Shah and Graves]. It also has an extra free front endpaper. The endpapers are white wove paper with grey-green marbling printed on outer sides. It is bound in the same marbled paper with a quarter black cloth spine with gold stamping identical to that of the ordinary issue’s black printing. It was issued in a slipcase covered in the same marbled paper with a tan wove paper label printed in red and black pasted on the front.

A120c. Second English edition ([1972]):

Collation: [A]16 B–C16, 48 leaves.

p.[1] PENGUIN BOOKS | THE RUBAIYYAT OF | OMAR KI IAYAAM; p.[2] blank; p.[3] title-page; p.[iv] publisher’s, publication, copyright, printer’s and rights reservation notices; p.[5] CONTENTS; p.[6] blank; pp·7–30 THE FITZ-OMAR CULT; pp.31–42 HISTORICAL PREFACE; p.[43] THE RUBAIYYAT; p.[44] NOTE; pp.45–67 text; p.[68] blank; pp.69–78 NOTES; pp.79–97 Fitzgerald’s translation; p.[80] blank.

18.0 × 11.0 cm. Bulk: 0.5 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in white paper pictorial covers printed in orange, black, pink and blue-green. Cover designed by Robert Hollingsworth.

Price: 25p. Number of copies: 28,146 (several impressions) sold by March 1986. Published 27 April l972.

A120d. Second American edition (1972):

Collation: 48 leaves, glued at spine.

p.[i] title-page; p.[ii] printing, publisher’s, ISBN and copyright notices; p.[iii] The Original Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayaam [French rule]; p.[iv] blank; p.[v] as p.[iii]; p.[vi] blank; p.[vii] CONTENTS; p.[viii] blank; pp.1–31 The Fitz-Omar Cult; pp.32–45[46] Historical Preface; p.[47] THE RUBAIYYAT; p.[48]note on the numbering of verses; pp.49–76 text; pp.77–86 NOTES; pp.[87]–[88] blank.

20.1 × 12.7 cm. Bulk: 0.7 cm. White wove paper; all edges trimmed. Bound in white paper covers printed in orange, pink and blue. A publisher’s postcard is inserted between p. [88] and the back cover.

Price: $2.25. Number of copies: undisclosed. Published 18 September 1972.

A120e. Second English edition ([1980]):

[all in red, with random splashes and splatters around text:] The | Rubaiyyat | of | Omar | Khayaam

Collation: [1] –[84], 42 leaves.

25.5 × 19.3 cm. Bulk: 1.8/3.0 cm. Hand-made rag-pulp paper, coloured with wool fleck. Bound in full dark blue goatskin; back blank; front has a large rectangle cut-out with a smaller rectangle in-set which in turn has a circle cut-out with a silver quarter moon in-set; spine stamped in silver, from top to bottom: [quarter moon, in silver] THE RUBAIYYAT OF OMAR KHAYAAM [quarter moon in silver].

Price: Published at £275.00, and £325.00 after November 1980. A few unbound sets were offered at £215.00. Separate mounted prints were priced £6.00. Copies of the book were hand-bound over time, extending into 1981.

Notes: Some copies were furnished with a cardboard slipcase covered in dark blue cloth. The publisher confirms that the number of copies printed is 40, not 45, as indicated on the colophon.

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