Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

1901

Special Collections PK6513 A2 1901

London: Grant Richards

Eleanor Joachim (1874-1957) emigrated from England to Dunedin with her family in 1876 and they settled in what is now English Avenue in Mornington. It is unclear how her interest in bookbinding was piqued but she travelled to England in April 1903 to receive tuition from the binding firm of Sangorski and Sutcliffe (returning to Dunedin in October 1904 to set up a bindery in Crawford Street). While in England she became connected with the Arts and Craft movement and eventually gifted her embroideries by the Morris family to the Otago Museum. Joachim bound this copy of the Rubáiyát, in red morocco, in 1905 and the front cover is intricately tooled with leaves, flowers, dots and curving lines; the six-panelled spine has one title panel and five panels echoing the front cover design; all three text block edges are gilt; a truly wonderful example of her work.