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exhibit
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
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March 31, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Edward FitzGerald's birth, and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam into English verse. The Rubaiyat is a collection of poems written in verses of four lines, quatrains. The word rubaiyat is derived from the Arabic root verb raba`a, meaning "to quadruple."
To commemorate these events, the Special Collections Department has on display some of the illustrated editions of this famous book of poetry, written in the 12th century by the Persian mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher, Omar Khayyam. In 1859, Edward FitzGerald, a Victorian man of letters, a dilettante, and an amateur translator, rendered 75 of these verses into English, and published them privately.
The Cleveland Public Library owns more than 1100 editions of the Rubaiyat thanks to John G. White, a former Library Board President and major benefactor of the Library. While tracing the literature that discussed the origin and history of chess, he became interested in examining chess references in classical and medieval works. He collected the Rubaiyat because of the chess connection.
‘Tis all a Chequer-board of Nights and Days
While Distiny with Men for Pieces plays :
Hither and thither moves, and mates, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.
To view other commemorative exhibits and events, click here.
Esperanto and Klingon and Quenya...Oh, my!!
Running May through August 2008, Cleveland Public Library will present an exhibit entitled "Esperanto, Elvish, and Beyond: The World of Constructed Languages" on the second floor of the Main Library.
What are "constructed languages?" Quite simply, they are languages that have been intentionally constructed. Languages like English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Swahili, and Guguyimidjir (a nearly-extinct native language of Australia) all evolved naturally, arising organically within a group of people through various natural forces. No single person defined their vocabularies, designed their syntaxes, or deliberately decided to create them.
Rare Film of 1908 Collinwood School Fire
The worst school fire in U.S. history occurred on March 4, 1908, when Collinwood’s Lake View School was destroyed in an uncontrollable inferno. Known as the Collinwood School Fire, this disaster shocked the world with its death toll of 172 children and three adults. In preparing an exhibit to commemorate the centennial of the disaster, Cleveland Public Library uncovered a rare silent film of the fire scene and public funeral. These short films are being shown here for the first time in a century. Also included is a short film of the Cleveland Fire Department displaying its equipment in 1900. Cleveland Fire Department provided back-up assistance to the Collinwood Fire Department at the time of the fire and would have used equipment similar to what is seen in this film.
African American Authors from Ohio
One of the Cleveland Public Library's great strengths is its wide-ranging collection of African American authors from Ohio. The following selection of works by African American poets, playwrights, and novelists includes early literary pioneers such as Charles Chesnutt and Paul Laurence Dunbar and contemporary writers like Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison.
