Hanscom, Adelaide (1875-1931) & Blanche Cumming Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
New York: Dodge Publishing Co., 1912.
First edition in color, quarto; text from Fitgerald's fourth edition; illustrated with 28 (2 of the 28 illustrations are mounted as doublures) full-color photogravure plates by Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cumming, each mounted to tipped-in leaves, all protected by tissue guards, decorations to text, those on the title and opening pages hand-colored and highlighted in gilt; bound in full teal morocco by Harcourt bindery, ornate gilt-tooling to boards and gilt-lettered spine, gilt green morocco turn-ins, citron morocco doublures each with large oval medallion at center containing one of the plates enclosed in a gilt frame, fawn moire silk endleaves, upper edge gilt (one plate starting; spine slightly darkened, a few tiny nicks to board edges); in a blue cloth chemise; 10 x 7 1/4 in.
Early pioneers in the field of photography, Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cumming were some of the first to use photographs for book illustration. Trained as both artists and photographers, the pair opened a studio in San Francisco in 1902. They primarily took portrait and commercial commissions, with Hanscom soon earning recognition as one of the leading Pictorialist photographers on the West Coast. Starting in 1903, Hanscom began seriously working on an illustrated edition of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Members of the Bay Area bohemian literary and artistic scenes were called on to serve as models, including poet Joaquin Miller (1837-1913), George Sterling (1869-1926), fellow photographer George Wharton James (1858-1923), and Charles Keeler (1871-1937). Her stunning work was finally finished in 1905, to the delight and praise of critics and artists alike. She won international acclaim for her work on the book, receiving a silver medal at the Liverpool Exhibition in England the same year. Her success allowed her to publish this subsequent Colored Oriental Edition with assistance from Blanche Cumming, which features lush, Renaissance art-inspired, hand-colored photograph plates.
