OBJECT FILE
The Great Omar
FOLLOWWhereabouts unknown
THE OBJECT
A binding of Elihu Vedder's illustrated Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám made by Francis Sangorski of Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London, in 1909–11 for the booksellers Sotheran's, set with over a thousand jewels in gold tooling, with three jewelled peacocks on the front cover. It sold at Sotheby's on 29 March 1912 for £405 to the New York dealer Gabriel Wells and was shipped on the Titanic, which sank on 15 April 1912; the book was lost with her. A second copy, made by Stanley Bray in the 1930s, was destroyed in a bank vault on Fore Street in the Blitz; Bray's third copy was bequeathed to the British Library by his widow in 2004.
REPORTED ACTIVITY
Sangorski drowned at Selsey Bill on 1 July 1912, ten weeks after the sinking, and the loss of the second copy in the Blitz fixed the book's reputation as the unluckiest in the world, with the peacock — an old emblem of ill luck — blamed. Bray, who spent 4,000 hours on the third copy and lived to old age, said: 'I am not in the least bit superstitious.'
WHERE IT IS NOW
Lost / whereabouts unknown.
PROVENANCE · 2 ENTRIES
TRACE ON THE MAP →1911 – 1912
Sangorski & Sutcliffe for Sotheran's (John Stonehouse)
Sangorski & Sutcliffe bindery, London, United Kingdom · not placed on the map
Year-level: finished in 1911 after two years' work.
Source: BBC, 2022 (made 1909–1911 for Sotheran's; unsold in Britain, consigned to Gabriel Wells)
1912 – 1912
Gabriel Wells, New York dealer (bought through his London agent)
Sotheby's, then aboard RMS Titanic, London, United Kingdom · not placed on the map
Shipped on the Titanic, which sailed on 10 April 1912; lost when she sank on 15 April 1912.
Source: BBC, 2022 ('On March 29, 1912, it sold at Sotheby's for £405'); Wikipedia, Sangorski & Sutcliffe ('sank with the ship and has not been recovered')
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS · 0
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