The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam, illustrated by Joseph Isom (Coumans #219; Paas #2067), was published by Hallmark Editions of Kansas City, Missouri, in 1967. It is not clear why the publisher used the spelling Rubayyat, as opposed to the more usual Rubaiyat, but there it is (1). The text consists of 90 quatrains selected by Gwynne Bujarsky from differing versions of FitzGerald, and re–numbered to form a sequence which roughly follows FitzGerald’s ‘drift’ from beginning to end. Isom did nine illustrations and the dust–jacket design, the cover being a detail taken from the last textual illustration – equivalently ten illustrations in all. The dust–jacket is shown in Fig.1a and the frontispiece with title–page in Fig.1b. Both appear to be generically related to the text in that they show Omar with his Beloved. Fig.1c shows the illustration facing quatrains 3 & 4 (= F1.3 & 4) (2), but seems better to fit quatrain 26 (= F.4.25) with its “Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness.” Readers who find themselves thinking of Gustav Klimt at this point are not alone – Klimt as a possible influence has been suggested before. (Speaking for myself, I find Isom’s illustrations a cross between Frank Brangwyn and Gustav Klimt.) Fig.1d faces quatrains 23 & 24 (= F.1.21 & 22) but seems to relate better to quatrain 21 (F.1.19) with faces peering up from “the River’s Lip on which we lean.” Fig.1e faces quatrains 43 & 44 (= F.4.55 & F.1.42), and clearly relates to the former, with “old barren Reason” exiting stage right in the background. As our final example, Fig.1f faces quatrains 79 & 80 (= F.1.65 & F.4.90), but clearly relates to the Potter’s Shop generally, with a seated Omar surrounded by “the clay Population round in Rows” (quatrain 73 = F.1.59.) [The illustrations can be browsed here.]
So, what about the publisher, Hallmark Editions ? They were an off–shoot of the famous Hallmark Greeting Cards Company (note the Hallmark crown logo on the title–page in Fig.1b), the parent company having had its origins back in 1910 (3a) with its literary off–shoot appearing only in 1967 (though Hallmark had published some novelty books before then.) Newspapers announced (3b) that on 1 August 1967 Hallmark would issue its first 24 titles of affordable, pocket–sized editions of popular titles, these including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, an edited version of Poor Richard’s Almanac, William Menninger’s Living in a Troubled World, Mimi Sheraton’s Hors d’Oeuvres and Appetisers, Bette Bishop’s The Beauty of Motherhood, a book of The New Comic Limericks, and, of course The Rubayyat of Omar Khayyam. Not everybody was impressed. Donald Stanley, writing in The San Francisco Examiner on 28 April 1967 (p.35), said that “it may do something for Hallmark and the bookshop owners, but hardly promises anything for the field of literature.” A little further on, after listing some of the forthcoming titles, he adds:
This is a nonbook list compiled for its quick sales potential. One wonders if there couldn’t be some way for the rapidly commercialising world of publishing to apply its sophisticated marketing techniques to the REAL problem: How to get the work of serious, undersold and creative authors into the hands of readers who can put some of those publishing profits into the pockets of the meritorious.
The problem is still with us, of course, when one sees the plethora of books about cooking, fashion, & navel–gazing, and – worse – the biographies of reality TV ‘stars’ and so–called ‘celebrities’. But thankfully there are – and always have been – publishers who see further than a simple profit margin. Though it is rather disappointing to find Hallmark Editions somewhat ignominiously listed alongside party accessories, Peanuts greeting cards, and hearing–aid batteries, in the newspaper advertisement shown in Fig.2 (3c), we ought to be grateful to Hallmark for the Joseph Isom Rubayyat, for its illustrations are every bit as good as those in many an upmarket edition. Indeed, in 1969 the London publisher Roger Schlesinger thought it eminently worth reprinting, in full, in England (Coumans #219 note; Paas #4098.)
But The Rubayyat wasn’t the only book Joseph Isom did for Hallmark Editions. He also illustrated Never Give In!, published in 1967. It is subtitled “The Challenging Words of Winston Churchill”, and is a selection of quotes from Churchill’s published books and speeches. Fig.3a is the frontispiece, Fig.3b (p.14) shows Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill, and Fig.3c (p.36) shows Churchill’s mother set above an image of his ancestral home, Blenheim Palace. All are skilled portraits, albeit taken from contemporary photographs.
What appears to be the first book illustrated by Isom was Natalie Miller’s Give Me Liberty, subtitled “Stories of Great American Sayings”, published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York, in 1966. The illustrator was named on the title–page as Joe Isom. It contained 12 sketches of notable historical figures, mostly presidents, and numerous textual decorations – Fig.4a is Abraham Lincoln (p.67), Fig.4b is Franklin D. Roosevelt (p.103) and Fig.4c is John F. Kennedy (p.119). As portraits they are recognisable, though they seem to be rather hastily sketched, almost scribbled, with JFK the least convincing. Indeed, as a reviewer in The Wichita Falls Times on 12 February 1967 (p.57) put it, the illustrations “are not in keeping with the lofty text – the strange scribbles are distracting.” Certainly the portraits in Never Give In!, published only a year later, are far superior, and, as we shall see, Isom was known as a skilled portraitist.
Following this, Isom illustrated Albert Bigelow Paine’s book (originally published in 1927) The Girl in White Armor, subtitled “The Story of Joan of Arc”, published by the Macmillan Company, New York and Collier–Macmillan Ltd, London, in 1967. Again, the illustrator was named on the title–page as Joe Isom. Aimed at young readers, it featured an illustrated title–page (Fig.5a) and twelve other illustrations, six of which were two–page spreads. Two examples are shown here as Fig.5b (p.44) and Fig.5c (p.112–3), the latter being one of the two–page spreads.
[The illustrations can be browsed here.]
We shall see more of Isom’s two–page spreads in due course, but first, what about the artist ? Who was Joseph Isom ?
Our artist was Chester Joseph (“Joe”) Isom Jr. (hereafter Joe.) He was born into a Catholic family in Kansas City, Missouri, on 28 May 1942, the son of Chester Joseph Isom, who at that time ran his own Radio Repair Shop there, and his wife, Juanita Mae (née Sousley.) Joe seems to have spent much of his life in and around Kansas City, dying there on 28 November 2000. A good place to start is with the brief overview of his life as given in the obituary of him published in The Kansas City Star on 30 November 2000 (p.28), which I here quote in full:
Chester Joe Isom Jr., 58, Leawood, KS passed away Tuesday, November 28, 2000, at St. Joseph Health Center. Mass of Christian burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday, December 1, at Church of the Nativity, 3800 W. 119th St. The burial will be held at Floral Hills Cemetery. Friends may call 6–8 p.m. Thursday, at McGilley State Line Chapel, 12301 State Line Rd., where a rosary will be said at 7.30 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Nativity or Redemptorist Church.
Mr. Isom was born on 28 May 1942 in Kansas City, MO. Joe received his Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Kansas in 1965. He then did graduate study in art history at Syracuse University. Joe began his career with Hallmark Cards as one of the first contemporary card artists. He continued his career as a freelance commercial illustrator for more than 30 years producing art for various groups and organisations including: Warner Brothers, Ralston–Purina, Mutual of Omaha, Major League Baseball, National Football League, Anheuser–Busch, NBC, Alpha Chi Omega, Phillips Petroleum, Redemptorist Church, and Church of the Nativity. Joe was recognised as one of the top 10 commercial illustrators in the United States. Survivors include his wife, Carroll of 31 years, their children Christopher and wife, Christine, Matthew, Jennifer, and Jeffrey Isom; sister, Cynthia Ann Johnson. He will be dearly missed and remembered always.
Expanding a little on the foregoing, Joe’s wife was born Carroll Louise Alexander in Wichita, Kansas, on 6 August 1947. She attended the University of Kansas and Wichita State University. The couple were married in Jackson, Missouri on 9 August 1969.
Chester Joseph Isom Sr died in 1980 aged 70. According to an obituary of him in The Kansas City Star on 20 July 1980 (p.42), Joe Jr actually had two sisters, the above–mentioned Cynthia (Cindy) Johnson of Independence, and Lois Clarke of Holden (both Missouri.) Joe‘s mother, Juanita Mae Isom, died in 1990 aged 73, and an obituary of her appeared in The Kansas City Star on 29 June 1990 (p.32). Since Joe’s sister Lois is not mentioned in this obituary (Cynthia is), I presume that she died sometime in the 1980s, though I have not yet traced any actual record of her death.
As regards Joe's work at Syracuse University, it would appear that he also did some teaching there, for a Dennis Hermanson recalls attending a class in Illustration run by him, probably in the Autumn of 1966. He remembers him as “a very supportive and relatively hands–off teacher” who gave him some good advice (not greatly appreciated at the time, he himself being psychedelically inclined), adding that “he was finishing up the Hallmark Omar Khayyam at that time.” Later, in March 1976, Joe was one of the visiting artists at the annual State Fair Community College Art Symposium in Sedalia, Missouri, the aim being to give students from a dozen local high schools the opportunity to meet and discuss art with “real’ working artists (3d). In April 1976 he was at the Memphis Academy of Arts giving slide–shows of his work accompanied by group discussions with students at the Academy (3e), and, in March 1978 he exhibited at the Junior Gallery of the Education Department at the Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City (3f). In January 1981 he gave a lecture on the Art of Illustration at Illinois State University’s Center for the Visual Arts. An account of this in The Pantagraph on 18 January 1981 (p.28) begins by saying that whilst still in college Joe achieved what most illustrators and commercial artists hope to achieve in their careers, adding that “his first illustration was reproduced in Playboy magazine while he was a senior at the University of Kansas” and that “he was also a member of the Society of Illustrators in New York while he was a college student.” Whilst on the campus at ISU he also talked to students about commercial art, so often denigrated as inferior to “pure art”, and to teachers from local schools and colleges to discuss design and graphic arts in the curriculum. Art education, then, was clearly an integral part of Joe’s career.
On 27 September 1996 a reception for Joe Isom was held at the Shaw Center Gallery on the Lamont (Iowa) Campus of Graceland University. An announcement of it was given in the Iowa newspaper Mount Ayr Record News on 26 September 1996 (p.4). Joe was billed as “one of North America’s finest illustrators and designers, with talents that blur the artificial line that separates ‘fine art’ from ‘commercial art,’” adding:
His work has literally spanned the continent... it is his art work that graces U–Haul trucks and vans. He has created movie posters for Clint Eastwood films, been commissioned by the White House to do portraits of dignitaries, worked with large corporate entities, and exhibited at such galleries as the Nelson Atwood Gallery.
Needless to say, there was an accompanying exhibition of some of his work to which students and anyone interested were invited, not just to view, but to discuss and ask questions about the work.
I’m afraid I have been unable to find an image of Joe’s Playboy illustration, nor of any of his Clint Eastwood posters!
The Franklin Library was effectively a quality and limited editions book club which commenced publishing finely bound books in 1973, and continued until 2000, when it closed. Joseph Isom illustrated four books for them, his name appearing on the title–page of each. I list them here in chronological order.
Josephine Johnson’s novel about life in a mid–Western family, Now in November, published in 1976, which contained ten pencil and wash illustrations, one, the frontispiece, being a two–page spread. This is shown in Fig.6a, with one of the other illustrations (p.77) in Fig.6b.
Ivan Turgenev’s First Love and Other Tales, published in 1978, which contained eight illustrations in similar style. Two examples are shown here – Fig.7a (p.37) and Fig.7b (p.120).
Dee Brown’s historical novel about an American Indian family that moved westwards across the continent, Creek Mary’s Blood, published in 1980, which contained three illustrations in similar style, each a double–page spread. An example is shown here as Fig.8 (p.2–3).
Allen Drury’s historical novel set in the time of the controversial monotheistic pharaoh, Akhenaten, A God against the Gods, published in 1981, which contained five illustrations, again in similar style. An example is shown in Fig.9 (p.121).
The illustrations speak for themselves in respect of style and artistic skill, both in representing human figures and in capturing the context in which the stories are set.
A God against the Gods appears to be the last book illustrated by Joe, for the Franklin Library or for any other publisher.
[The illustrations can be browsed here.]
Joe did illustrations for the covers and contents of at least two magazines, Boys’ Life and Outdoor Life.
The following examples are from the March 1979 issue of Boys’ Life, Figs.10a (p.32–3) & 10b (p.35). They illustrate the article “Running: the Sport for all Ages” by James F. Fixx. Joe seems to have done a number of such sport-–based art–works, relating to Swimming, Cycling, Baseball and American Football, for example. Recall also the mention of his work for Major League Baseball and National Football League in the above–quoted obituary.
As for Outdoor Life, Fig.11a is his illustration for an article on deer–hunting in the issue of October 1978 (p.70–71) and Fig.11b the cover he did for the December 1979 edition.
I do not know if Joe himself liked hunting, or whether it was simply that Outdoor Life liked Joe’s illustrations, for sometimes an artist must work for those who pay him, whether he is in tune with the subject matter or not (and less people were anti–hunting back then than now.) Either way, Joe also did signed limited edition prints to given away to purchasers of Smith and Wesson hand–guns, as the advertisements of Figs.12a & 12b show. The adverts date from 1984.
Joe illustrated at least one short story for the newspaper The Kansas City Star (17 January 1971, p.140), “Horizon” by Robert A. Clemens. The illustration, spread across two pages, is shown in Fig.13.
[The illustrations can be browsed here.]
Another piece for commercial art in which Joe was involved was for Parker Brothers of Salem, Massachusetts, in 1983. He was hired to produce “an artistic painting rendition” of David Hasselhoff, star at that time of the immensely popular TV programme, “Knight Rider.” The painting was to be used in connection with the Parker Brothers’ board game of that name – an image of its box is shown in Fig.14a. Parker Brothers owned the rights to the painting, but subsequently, in 1985, sold it to the General Mills food–company of Minneapolis for use as a poster to be given away in boxes of their Cheerios breakfast cereal. The food company was apparently none too impressed with Joe’s painting, and hired another artist to spruce it up a bit. To add insult to injury, the poster went into the cereal boxes under that other artist’s name – Fig.14b is an image of the Cheerios poster. The upshot was that Joe took Parker Brothers and General Mills to court seeking a minimum of $15,000 in damages on account of loss of revenue as well as physical and mental distress. The suit had originally been filed in Norwalk Superior Court in April, but was transferred for legal reasons to federal court at the request of Roger Zissu, the lawyer who represented Parker Brothers & General Mills. Zissu told the press that the case would never have gone to a federal court had Joe been willing to accept $15,000 in damages, but he was clearly out to get much more – possibly as high as $1 million, Zissu estimated (4). Oddly enough, I have not managed to find any newspaper account of the final outcome of this case, so I would presume it was settled out of court on legal advice – $1 million does seem excessive!
No such problems surrounded another board game issued by Parker Brothers in 1981, with which Joe seems also to have been associated (though I have seen no firm evidence of this): “Annie – the Path to Happiness Game”, a game based on the story of “Little Orphan Annie” (Fig.15.)
An interesting example of Joe’s commercial art–work was done in 1975 for the annual report of the Ralston Purina Company, the manufacturers of animal feed. It is interesting because it featured alongside the artist in The Maryville Daily Forum on 30 October 1975 (p.3), as shown in Fig.16.
Also of interest is the mural shown in Fig.17, this being taken from The Kansas City Star on 22 December 1976 (p.1.) Its caption explains its contents and purpose. The accompanying article explained that the mural was produced by drawing four pencil–charcoal sketches, each 1 foot high by 2 feet long, which were then photographed and enlarged x4 to four panels 4 feet high by 8 feet long. These were then fixed side by side to form a mural 4 feet high and 32 feet long.
Finally, nineteen commercial artists exhibited their work at the Illinois State University Center for the Visual Arts in January 1981. In addition to delivering a lecture there (as noted earlier) Joe exhibited a limited edition print, done the previous year, to celebrate the centennial of Breckenridge, Colorado. An account of the exhibition was given in The Pantagraph on 3 January 1981 (p.47), and a black and white image of Joe’s print featured on the cover (Fig.18a). An image of the original print is shown in Fig.18b.
[The illustrations can be browsed here.]
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Note 1: Everything hinges on changing Persian script, which doesn’t use vowels as such, into an English equivalent which does. Accents aside, Omar can be rendered Umar, Khayyam can be rendered Khaiyam, and Rubaiyat can be rendered Robaiyat, with Rubayyat being another acceptable rendering, possibly an attempt to emphasise that the i is a long vowel following a long a. I would guess that this spelling came from Manoocher Aryanpur, who did the Introduction to the Hallmark edition. Far and away the most commonly accepted combination is Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
Note 2: That is, quatrains 3 & 4 in the Hallmark version = FitzGerald version 1, quatrains 3 & 4.
Note 3a: Founded by J.C. Hall, who was later joined by his brother, the greeting cards company ran for a while under the name of Hall Brothers. It was J.C. Hall who realised that a hallmark was a stamp used by jewellers to denote quality, and that the word hallmark neatly incorporated his own surname – hence Hall Brothers became Hallmark, the quality greeting card manufacturers still going today.
Note 3b: For example, The Los Angeles Times, 24 April 1967, p.46; The Indianapolis News, 13 May 1967, p.31; The Chicago Tribune, 22 June 1967, p.100; The Kansas City Star, 1 August 1967 (p.2).
Note 3c: This is from the Ohio newspaper Crestline Advocate, 28 September 1967, p.7. Similar adverts are to be found in other newspapers at the time.
Note 3d: The Sedalia Democrat, 7 March 1976 (p.1 & p.4).
Note 3e: Announced in The Memphis Press Scimitar, 26 March 1976 (p.44).
Note 3f: The Kansas City Times, 11 March 1978 (p.45).
Note 4: I have here followed the account given in the Indiana newspaper The Noblesville Ledger on 21 June 1985 (p.7). A very similar account is to be found in the Tennessee newspaper Kingsport Times–News on 26 June 1985 (p.125); a summary account in The Philadelphia Inquirer on 23 June 1985 (p.3.)
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My thanks are due to Barney Rickenbacker and Fred Diba for their advice on the English spelling of “Rubayyat”. I must also thank Sandra Mason and (again) Barney for proof–reading the article and making some helpful comments on it.
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