On this day in 1809 Edward Fitzgerald was born, and on this ay in 1859 his “free translation” of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was published. Fitzgerald’s version of the 12th century Persian verse became one of the most popular works of the 19th century and one of the best-selling books of poetry ever.Some say that its religious skepticism had an impact on Victorian England equivalent to Darwin’s The Origin of Species, also published in 1859.
