MUTANABBI, Abu al-Tayyib, al-; Amin BEDER (trans.)

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Rubyiat [i.e. Rubaiyat] of Abu-Tayb-al-Mutanabi. First edition - and a presentation copy from the translator, inscribed on the front free endpaper, "To Anna Marie Stevens, Amin Beder, [his name in Arabic], 2-10-49" - of the first translation into English of the Rubaiyat of the great Arabic-language poet Abu al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi.Al-Mutanabbi (c.915-965) is "universally esteemed the greatest of all Arab poets" (Arberry, p. 1), whose "pride and arrogance set the tone for much of his verse, which is ornately rhetorical yet crafted with consummate skill and artistry. He gave to the traditional qasīdah, or ode, a freer and more personal development, writing in what can be called a neoclassical style that combined some elements of Iraqi and Syrian stylistics with classical features" (Ency. Brit.). The mannered nature of al-Mutanabbi's poetry makes it problematic for translators into English, a fact acknowledged by the distinguished English orientalist A. J. Arberry in his Poems of Al-Mutanabbi (1967).The translator, Amin Georges Beder (1876-1955), was born in present-day Lebanon and emigrated to New York at the age of 14. He went on to attend St Lawrence University, New York, where he graduated in 1899 with a degree in English. He subsequently founded Amin Beder & Co., a business trading in "Oriental goods" that became a highly successful international firm. His preface in the present work discusses American interests in the Arabian Peninsula, while his biographical sketch of Al-M

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