The Legend of The Great Omar

Source: Sangorski & Sutcliffe - Shepherds - talasonline.com

'Lost on the Titanic: The Story of The Great Omar and its tragic loss on the Titanic' was published in 2001 to celebrate the centenary of Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Illustrated with black and white illustrations taken from half-tone plates in the S&S archive and 10 tipped-in full colour plates, the book tells the story of 'The Great Omar', a magnificent jewelled binding of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that went down with the fateful liner.

It took two years of continuous work to complete and boasted over a thousand precious and semi-precious jewels inlaid into the book's covers. Finally completed in 1911, the book was on voyage to America when it was tragically lost and a few months later its creator Francis Sangorski drowned in a bathing accident.

As noted in Shepherd's site, 'Lost on the Titanic' "...traces the history of the binding and describes how the book was designed and constructed by reproducing the original working drawings and tooling patterns. Until now, the only image of the 'The Great Omar' was an old black and white photograph but with the help of recently discovered archive material and the latest computer technology, it has been possible to recreate an image of the book in full colour. The process of creating a colour image of the binding gives a unique insight into how the book was made, the scanning and image editing procedure mirroring the binding process itself. Each stage of the process has been reproduced in full colour, culminating the full-scale print which accompanies the book. Ninety years after its completion, 'The Great Omar' can once again be seen as it might have looked in 1912."

You may buy your own copy of this nice, well done book on the lost treasure from the prestigious house of Sangorski & Sutcliffe (formerly Shepherds) in the United Kingdom, or a poster if you prefer.