COSTELLO, Louisa Stuart.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Rose Garden of Persia. First edition, finely bound. This beautifully printed anthology of Persian poetry in English includes work from Hafiz, Rumi, Firdawsi, Nizami, Jami, Sa'di, and Omar Khayyam (preceding Fitzgerald's translation by over a decade). The ornamental frames to the text were inspired by manuscripts belonging to the Asiatic Society. In 1835 Louisa Stuart Costello (1799-1870) published Specimens of the Early Poetry of France, "lyrical if rather fussy translations of a wide range of medieval French poets. This work made her literary reputation and attracted the attention of Thomas Moore, to whom it was dedicated, and Walter Scott." (ODNB). For her collection of Persian poetry, Costello translated from French prose versions rather than the original texts. Nonetheless, "her paraphrases of sections of the Quatrains of 'Umar Khayyam, for instance, compare creditably with the celebrated translation by Edward Fitzgerald" (ODNB).The binder, Samuel Tout (1841-1902), was based in Soho from 1868 to 1879, thereafter in Whitechapel, where he briefly worked with William Coward. Tout was also an early member of the staff of Karslake's famed Hampstead Bindery, which opened in Charing Cross in 1898.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.