SMITH, B. - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Edward Fitzgerald translation)

An album with 30 humoristic cartoons by Bill Smith being an interpratation of "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam". The first page has the name of the artist "Bill Smith" in reserve. A pencil note on blanc leaf says "Unique copy - original art work - after which 88 copies were printed".
We could not find any reference to a printed version of these series nor information about the artist Bill Smith.

Edward FitzGerald, an outstanding writer who has done more than anyone to popularize English poetry. His best-known work, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1859), began by being remaindered as a penny pamphlet, but it soon took off and swept across the world. To date it has appeared in 650 different editions, with illustrations by 150 artists. It has been translated into 70 languages and set to music by 100 composers.

Fitz Gerald's translations were popular in the century of their publication, and since its publication humorists have used it for purposes of parody.