The Hindu : International : A legendary book for British Library

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Friday, Jul 08, 2005

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International

A legendary book for British Library

Maev Kennedy

LONDON: The British Library here has been presented with a legendary book regarded by many bookbinders as one of the greatest modern bindings in the world — but haunted by tragedy and disaster.

The gold leaf blazing and the light flashing from hundreds of gemstones studding the tails of the peacocks on the cover defy the extraordinary history of the Sangorski special edition of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Edward Fitzgerald's translation of the great Persian poem of love, life and loss.

The original, referred to as The Book Wonderful, or The Great Omar, took two years to make, and sank with the Titanic in 1912. Its creator, Francis Sangorski, drowned in a bathing accident weeks later.

The second copy took Stanley Bray six years to recreate from Sangorski's original drawings. It was destroyed in the London Blitz.

The third copy took Bray more than 40 years, on and off, to make. When he completed it in 1989 he estimated it had taken about 4,000 hours. He lent it to the British Library before his death in 1995. After the death last year of his widow, Irene, his family decided to present it to the Library along with the original drawings and his bookbinding tools.

Sangorski determined to make a book "to astonish the world" and spent months on the designs, which required 5,000 pieces of inlaid leather, ivory, silver and ebony, 600 sheets of 22-carat gold leaf, and 1,052 garnets, turquoises, topazes, olivines and an emerald. The book was a legend in bookbinding circles long before he finished it.

When asked about the book's tragic history shortly before his death, Bray said: "I am not in the least bit superstitious — even though they do say that the peacock is a symbol of disaster."

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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