The Light of the Sublime - RIT Libraries - Rochester Institute of ...

Th e Works of rum i
as i nTe rpreTe d by Zah ra parTovi
an d vi nc e nT fiTZ G e rald & co.
riT cary G raph ic arTs collecTion
ro c h e sTe r, ny
201 2

The drawings reproduced in this catalogue are by don kunz
from The Parrot & the Merchant, 1981, the first rumi book published
by vincent fitzGerald & co. (see page 21).
Translations & “a poet’s voice” ©2012 Zahra partovi
catalogue & introduction ©2012 riT cary Graphic arts collection
all rights reserved.
www.vincentfitzgerald.com
cary.rit.edu

conTe nTs
introduction
by amelia hugill-fontanel 6
Jalaluddin mohammad rumi,
life and Works 8
a poet’s voice
by Zahra partovi 10
selections from The Masnavi,
translated by Zahra partovi 13
The poetry of rumi in Translation by Zahra partovi
published by vincent fitzGerald & co.,
1981–2012 21
collaborating artists & artisans 26
selected institutional collections
with vincent fitzGerald & co. books 28
5

i nTroducTion
6
One who is pure is drowned in the light of the Sublime
He is the son of no one, free from time and states of feeling
Letters by rumi; translated by Zahra partovi, 1986
Deep veneration or uplifting emotion can be inspired by
that which is truly sublime – something or some idea that is
beautiful, magnificent, or profound. light from the natural
world, or even from one’s inner eye, plays a part in reveal-
ing or obscuring this greatness. it is precisely this dance
of revelation that Jalaluddin mohammad rumi sought to
elucidate in his prolific poetry. his words have transcended
the passage of seven centuries and continue to be as rel-
evant as when first written, no doubt because he covered
universal human concepts including art, love, travel, self-
lessness, and spirituality. metaphors about the power of
light are woven throughout rumi’s verse, and are a
common thread in the series of interpretive livres d’artistes
created from translations of rumi by Zahra partovi,
published by vincent fitzGerald & co.
Translation is vital to creating relationships between
cultures. over decades of translating the works of rumi,
Zahra partovi acts as a skillful medium through which
rumi’s poetry in medieval persian is transformed into the
vernacular of contemporary english. her resulting translations
are the basis of fifteen books published in new york –
evidence that culture can be bridged through words. but
words alone do not mark these books: vibrant imagery,
innovative form, and quality craftsmanship are the signatures
of vincent fitzGerald & co. books.

The visual and physical translation of the rumi livres
d’artistes is as essential as the text translation. vincent
fitzGerald commissions fine artists to interpret texts, and
guides their creative output into a limited-edition print-
making or sometimes-sculptural process that is presented
in book form. The illustrative prints are truly “multiple
originals,” made with myriad techniques including engraving,
etching, screen printing, lithography, and photogravure.
collaboration with artisans is key to synthesize the final
works, which incorporate calligraphy, exquisite typography,
letterpress printing on custom-made paper, and hand
binding. fitzGerald’s most recent publications use surprising
substrates: carbon steel, laser-etched glass or lucite,
and even projected light. The combined orchestrated effort
of these books approaches the sublime at the pinnacle of
the bookmaking art.
The cary Graphic arts collection is pleased to celebrate
this fusion of text, art, and craft in the rumi series with our
exhibition, “The light of the sublime.” our library comprehensively
collects the works of vincent fitzGerald & co.
as exemplars of the book arts genre, meant to inspire our
community with their beauty, magnificence, and depth. We
hope that the works that we have assembled demonstrate
both the sublimity of the book arts in its evolving form
and the timelessness of rumi’s poetry.
Amelia Hugill-Fontanel
riT cary Graphic arts collection
7

Jalalu ddi n moham mad rum i
li fe an d Works
1207 Jalaluddin mohammad is born in balkh, northeastern
persia.
1219 his family leaves balkh, migrating to anatolia, which was
previously a province the roman empire.
1219– studies theology, jurisprudence, philosophy, prosody,
1230 mathematics, mysticism, and the classics.
1228 his family settles in konya, a city in what is now central
Turkey.
1229 upon his father’s death, replaces him as preacher and
teacher.
1244 meets the mystic shams of Tabriz and abandons the
pulpit and podium.
1247 begins to compose poetry (Divan-e-Shams).
1258 begins the composition of The Masnavi.
1273 The sixth book of The Masnavi is completed.
1273 Jalauddin mohammed, given the title of molana, “our
master,” and known as rumi, “roman,” dies in the city of
konya.
8

Divan-e-Shams is a collection of odes written in persian by
Jalauddin mohammed rumi between 1247 and 1273. after the
completion of all the odes and the addition of rumi’s quatrains,
there are 3,229 Ghazals (odes) and 1,983 rubais (quatrains) in The
Divan. in persian poetry one verse consists of two hemistichs, and
all the subsequent lines carry the same rhyme. although a Ghazal
usually has between seven and thirteen lines, rumi’s can have as
few as three and as many as eighty lines. The poems in The Divan
are not titled. They are arranged alphabetically by rhyme and
numbered accordingly. an early form of copyrighting was the
use of the poet’s name in the last line of the ode. rumi’s admiration
and sense of unity with the mystic shams of Tabriz was so
profound that he signed over seven hundred of his odes with the
shams’ name, hence the title, Divan-e-Shams. The earliest and most
reliable manuscripts of The Divan are at the mevlana museum in
konya, Turkey and the chester beatty library in dublin, ireland.
rumi wrote The Masnavi between 1258 and 1273. it is a narrative
poem in six books with 25,685 verses. The word “masnavi”
refers to the form: rhyming couplets, used for epic or other long
narrative texts. rumi’s opus being the most important masnavi,
has been honored with the title The Masnavi. The text consists of
hundreds of intertwining long and short stories adorned with
lyrical soliloquies and weighty philosophical arguments. by Western
comparison, The Masnavi contains as many verses as the Illiad
and the Odyssey combined and twice as many as dante’s Divine
Comedy. The oldest surviving manuscripts of The Masnavi date to
the thirteenth century: one at the mevlana museum, and another
at the museum of egyptian antiquities in cairo, egypt.
9

a p oeT’s voic e
It is too easy to attribute the unprecedented popularity
of Jalaluddin mohammad rumi to the “spiritual hunger”
of our time, and even more dangerous to believe that we
need imported elements to satisfy such hunger.
10
i trust that man seeks spirituality at all times and
places, and that the poet with or without the cloak of mys-
ticism is a spiritual leader. rumi’s own poetry speaks of the
answers to what we seek, being in our own home. Just as a
close look at the art, literature, and music of contemporary
Western culture reveals an abundance of highly metaphysi-
cal work.
hence, the most remarkable biographical information
about Jalaluddin rumi’s life is not the appearance and
disappearance of the mystic shams, but rumi’s impera-
tive and conscious decision to make a change in his career
from a sufi teacher to a poet. here the medium is truly
the message: the most successful sufi teacher of all times
with countless devoted followers, chooses to communicate
through the path of poetry. This masterful poet combines
philosophy, mysticism, and psychology in a language so
piercing as to enter the realm of music. it is this element
more than any other, which has made rumi’s poetry so
irresistible to readers for over seven hundred years even
through the filter of translation.
What distorts rumi’s words therefore, is not the process
of translation, but the inability of interpreters to grasp all
the requisite ingredients of his thinking. humans are born

translators. each time we speak we translate abstract ideas
from the brain into coherent, communicable words. even
though we are in the process of translating at all times,
most people consider their own language untranslatable.
We think of our native tongue as sensitively expressive and
highly idiomatic. The delicate act of translation is thus to
transport a set of sensitively expressive and highly idiom-
atic ideas from one language and deliver them safely into
another sensitively expressive and highly idiomatic mold.
To translate and still achieve total fidelity to the original
text requires not only thorough knowledge of both
languages, but also the surrender of ego in reverence to the
author and reader. for it is the author whose texts must be
reborn in another language, and the reader who invests his
sincere trust as he reads a book of poetry in translation.
i am fortunate to have seen the visible face of that trust
in the works produced by publisher vincent fitzGerald and
over two dozen artists who have worked on rumi’s poetry
through my translations. Working with rumi’s poetry and
the magnitude of his thinking is a humbling experience. a
sense of grave responsibility and honor surrounds the act
of translating the masterpieces of such a writer.
my hopes and aspirations have always been the simplest
and the hardest: to arrive as close to the original
writing as to make the translator an invisible messenger
bringing to the reader a poet’s voice. Whether one delivers
a secular or a sacred text, the act of translation remains a
sacred act.
Zahra Partovi
11

12
Zahra Partovi was born in Tehran, iran and lives in new
york city. she holds degrees in english and comparative
literature from Tehran and columbia universities. partovi
has been researching and translating the poetry of rumi
for several decades, authoring fifteen books of literary
translations published by vincent fitzGerald & co., new york.

s e lecTion s from TH e MAS nAvI
translated by zahra partovi
These verses—all rich with metaphors about light—appear throughout
the “Fragments of Light” series publications, and as such are fitting to
celebrate “The Light of the Sublime” exhibition.
Verse 2404 Masnavi III
fragments of light 2
The window of my soul opens fresh in delight
as letters from God arrive without an agent.
from the heavenly mine, letters,
rain and light pour through the house.
ah what inferno is the house devoid of windows
The essence of faith, o creature, is making a window.
come and cease wielding your axe of other craft
begin to wield the axe to carve a window, yes!
lest you do not know that the light of the sun
is the picture of the sun released from within.
or you see light merely as animals do
What then is “i bless you” and “i am human”?
i am like the sun drowned within the light
i know not how to distinguish myself from light.
13

Verse 1117 Masnavi I
fragments of light 3
What numberless worlds exist in the core of the intellect
how vast the breadth of the ocean of the intellect.
on the face of this ocean full-of fresh water
our faces run like empty vessels.
While empty, they float like buckets on top
When filled, they drown in the sea.
The intellect is hidden and the world visible
our faces, the waves, or the mere dampness.
no matter how we strive to move the ocean
it tosses us away onto the land.
so that our hearts may not see the giver of secrets
so that the arrow may not see who shoots it.
a man thinks his horse is lost, and fiercely
drives his horse ever faster down the road.
This good man truly believes his horse is lost
While the same horse pulls him like the wind.
obstinately he searches everywhere
Questioning door to door, he cries:
“Who and where is the man who stole my horse?”
“Then what is that under your thighs, good man?”
14

‘’yes, this is a horse, but where is my horse?”
‘’Wake up, o brave rider seeking a horse!”
The soul is invisible for being so close and obvious
like a jug with a bellyful of water and lips dry as the desert.
you cannot see red, green or russet
if you do not see the light beyond them.
color steals your senses and like a veil
obscures the light from you.
but at night, when colors hide in the dark
you see that their visibility was due to light.
Without the outer light, color vision is not possible
nor the color of the imagination without the inner light.
The outer light comes from the sun and the stars
While the inner, is the reflection of higher rays.
The light of the light of the eye is the light of the heart
The light of the eye is produced by the light of the heart.
again, the light of the light of the heart, is the light of God
Which is free and pure of the light of sense and mind.
at night when there is no light, you see no color
Thus light is revealed by its opposite.
one needs to see light, and then see color
you understand this quickly by the antithesis of light.
Just as God created pain and sorrow
so by their antithesis, joy may become apparent.
15

Therefore what is hidden can be revealed by its opposite
God having no opposite is forever hidden.
perception of light comes first, then color vision
opposites make their opposites apparent like black and
16
white.
We learn of light by its opposite
each opposite elevates its own opposite.
only the light of truth has no antithesis
Through which it could be found.

Verse 85 Masnavi II
fragments of light 4
Gloom overcomes you as you shut your eyes
Window light alone cannot make them bloom.
your eye’s attraction to light induces the gloom
To swiftly unite your eyes with the light of day.
but if your open eyes are overcome with gloom
you have shut the eyes of the soul. open them wide!
it is thus the request of the eye of the heart
Which perpetually seeks the immeasurable light.
While darkness from the absence of the two
Transient lights opens your bodily eye.
heed the absence of the two everlasting lights
lest it brings you gloom!
When he summons me, i behold myself!
unsightly or worthy of the magnetism?
how now can i see my own face?
What color i am, like night or day?
i had eagerly sought and found
The picture of my soul in no one.
“What then is the mirror for!” i reflected
“for us to know who and what we are.”
17

alas, the mirror of steel is for skin alone.
The mirror for the face of the soul is that rare
looking glass, nothing but the face of the beloved
yes, the beloved who belongs to the other land.
18

Verse 987 Masnavi V
fragments of light 5
Like stars
The rays of the sun leave the walls.
every wall becomes black and dark
as the sunlight returns to its place.
What stunned you at the faces of beauty,
Was the sunlight through the three-colored glasses.
colorful glass shows the light
Thus in many colors to us.
When the glasses of many colors are gone
Thereupon the colorless light will stun you.
learn to see the light without glass
as when the glass breaks, there is no blindness.
contented with your bookish knowledge
staring at the stranger’s light?
Watch him steal the light, as you learn
you are a borrower, not a giver of light.
19

Verse 425 Masnavi I
fragments of light 6
The bird is above, and below
its shadow is running bird-like.
a fool becomes the hunter of the shadow
running so much that he runs out of breath.
ignorant that this is the picture of the air-born bird
ignorant of where the origin of the shadow is.
20

Th e p oeTry of rum i
in translation by Zahra Partovi
published by Vincent FitzGerald & Co., 1981–2012
The Story of The Parrot & The Merchant 1981
drawings by don kunz
200 numbered copies, 50 with an additional set of drawings,
signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by kelly/Winterton press in handset
arrighi, bembo, and rhapsody types on rives paper;
bound by Gérard charrière.
Letters 1986
lithographs by agnes murray
75 copies signed by the artist and the translator
lithographed on J. b. Green and dieu donné papermill
papers by John hutcheson and agnes murray, with assistance
by Zahra partovi at The printmaking Workshop.
calligraphy by Jerry kelly; bound by Zahra partovi.
Moses & The Shepherd 1987
etchings by mark beard
100 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in bembo type on moulin du Gue paper.
etchings printed by marjorie van dyke with assistance from
Zahra partovi at The printmaking Workshop.
bound by Zahra partovi.
21

The Reed 1989
22
line etchings, mezzotints, and watercolor by susan Weil
50 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in diotima type on J. b. Green and dieu donné
papermill papers. etchings printed by shigemitsu Tsukaguchi.
calligraphy by Jerry kelly and Zahra partovi.
On the Art of Painting 1989
etchings and sculpture by annette senneby
50 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in optima type on rives Johannot and dieu
donné papermill papers. etchings printed by marjorie van
dyke and vincent fitzGerald at The printmaking Workshop;
offset lithography by allethaire press. calligraphy by Jerry
kelly and Zahra partovi. The sculpture was editioned by
annette senneby and vincent fitzGerald with steel by hector
perez. bound by Zahra partovi; box by david bourbeau.
Divan-E-Shams 1996
interpreted by: Joan busing, sandy Gellis, elizabeth harington,
bernard kirschenbaum, T. kurahara, James nares, dorothea
rockburne, bettye saar, annette senneby, michelle stuart,
peter Thomson, Judith Turner, marjorie van dyke, Joan
vennum, and susan Weil.
50 copies signed by the artists and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in renaissance roman type on rives bfk and
custom paper by paul Wong of dieu donné papermill.
etchings printed by vincent fitzGerald, marjorie van dyke,
and kelly driscoll at The printmaking Workshop, and lynn

ogan of lynn rogan associates. photogravure by lothar
osterburg of lothar osterburg photogravure. lithography by
Judith sotodkin of solo impressions. silk screen by colorgirls.
sculpture by John depp, inc. calligraphy by Jerry kelly;
binding and box by booklab.
Ruminations 1998
Trade edition of 250 quotations from The Masnavi & The Divane-Shams
offset printed by stinehour press in renaissance, aldus, and
michelangelo types. cover art by bernard kirschenbaum.
designed by Jerry kelly and vincent fitzGerald.
Deception 1998
etchings by elizabeth harington
50 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in perpetua type on rives bfk and dieu donné
papermill papers. etchings printed by alexandar duravcevic
and vincent fitzGerald at d2 press. calligraphy by Jerry kelly
and Zahra partovi. bound by Zahra partovi with assistance
by kristin Winkler; box by priscilla spitler of hands on
bookbinding.
Gazelle in the Donkey Stable 1999
etchings and lithographs by alexandar duravcevic
50 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in bauer bodoni and feliciano types on
hahnemuhle copperplate and dieu donné papermill papers.
etchings printed by alexandar duravcevic and lithography
by kelly driscoll, both at d2 press. Wood covers by dennis
23

24
fitzGerald. bound by Zahra partovi; box by priscilla spitler of
hands on bookbinding.
Lover Beloved 2000
etchings by T. kurahara
50 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in aldus type on apta verge royal paper by
richard de bas. editioning by vincent fitzGerald and d2 press.
calligraphy by Jerry kelly and Zahra partovi. bound by Zahra
partovi; box by priscilla spitler of hands on bookbinding.
Fragments of Light 2 2003
Glass sculpture by kelly driscoll
35 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed leaf by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in diotima type on rives bfk paper. etching by
laser edge design on depp Glass. calligraphy by Jerry kelly;
box by priscilla spitler of hands on bookbinding
Fragments of Light 3 2008
photogravure and chromogenics by Judith Turner
35 copies signed by the artist and the translator
letterpress printed by daniel keleher of Wild carrot
letterpress in optima type. photogravure plates by Jon
Goodman; printed at Wingate studio. calligraphy by Zahra
partovi and Jerry kelly. bound by Zahra partovi; box by
priscilla spitler of hands on bookbinding.

Fragments of Light 4 2008
lithographs by fran siegel
35 copies signed by the artist and the translator
Title page letterpress printed by kelly/Winterton press. kabel
and Thulth types used throughout on mylar and dieu donné
papermill paper. lithography by kelly driscoll. laser by
studio associates of new york. calligraphy by Jerry kelly.
steel binding by milgo bufkin.
Fragments of Light 5 2010
sculpture by linda schrank
35 copies signed by the artist and the translator
calligraphy by Jerry kelly. laser by studio associates of new
york. bound by Zahra partovi; box by hands on bookbinding.
Fragments of Light 6 2012
visual projection by naho Taruishi
sound by Zahra partovi
harp by alyssa reit
25

collaboraTi nG arTi sTs & arTi san s
artists
mark beard
Joan busing
kelly driscoll
alexandar duravcevic
sandy Gellis
elizabeth harington
bernard kirschenbaum
don kunz
Ted kurahara
agnes murray
James nares
Zahra partovi
alyssa reit
dorothea rockburne
betye saar
linda schrank
annette senneby
fran siegel
michelle stuart
naho Taruishi
peter Thomson
Judith Turner
marjorie van dyke
Joan vennum
susan Weil
26

artisans
bob blackburn
david bourbeau
milgo bufkin
Gérard charrière
John depp
kelly driscoll
alexandar duravcevic
Jon Goodman
barry hartglass
craig Jensen
Ted Jenner
Jerry kelly
Just plastics
laser Works designs
lothar osterburg
Zahra partovi
margo pelletier
hector perez
lynn rogan
Judith solodkin
priscilla spitler
naho Taruishi
shigemitsu Tsukaguchi
marjorie van dyke
paul Wong
27

s e lecTe d i n sTiTuTional collecTion s
with Vincent FitzGerald & Co. Books
american academy of arts and letters, new york, new york
arizona state university, Tempe, arizona
bayerische staatsbibliothek, munich, Germany
bibliothèque nationale, paris, france
boston athenæum, boston, massachusetts
boston museum of fine arts, boston, massachusetts
bowdoin college library, brunswick, maine
brooklyn museum of art, brooklyn, new york
bucknell university, lewisburg, pennsylvania
columbia university, rare books & manuscript library, new york
dartmouth college library, hanover, new hampshire
detroit institute of arts, detroit, michigan
dieu donné papermill, inc., new york, new york
harvard university, houghton library, cambridge, massachusetts
J. paul Getty museum, los angeles, california
kungliga biblioteket, stockholm, sweden
library of congress, rare book & special collections,
Washington, dc
metropolitan museum of art, new york, new york
mevlana museum, konya, Turkey
michigan state university, special collections, east lansing,
michigan
The museum of modern art, new york, new york
nationalmuseum, stockholm, sweden
new york public library, The spencer collection, new york
poets house, new york, new york
riT cary Graphic arts collection, rochester, new york
28

san francisco public library, san francisco, california
scripps college, claremont, california
smith college library, northampton, massachusetts
stanford university library, stanford, california
stiftung lyrik kabinett, munich, Germany
Tokyo metropolitan Teien art museum, Tokyo, Japan
Toledo museum of art, Toledo, ohio
university of delaware library, newark, delaware
university of iowa libraries, martin rare book room, iowa city,
iowa
university of minnesota, Wilson library, rare books, minneapolis,
minnestoa
university of Texas harry ransom center, austin, Texas
university of vermont, special collections, burlington, vermont
victoria and albert museum, london, england
Whitney museum of american art, new york, new york
Wellesley college, Wellesley, connecticut
Wells college, aurora, new york
yale university, sterling memorial library, new haven,
connecticut
29

set in nofret and diotima types,
designed by Gudrun Zapf von hesse.
calligraphy by Jerry kelly & Zahra partovi.
printed at the rochester institute of Technology
on mohawk via paper, with cover printed
letterpress by amelia hugill-fontanel.
designed by Jerry kelly.