THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM; First and Fifth Editions <i> By Edward FitzGerald (Dover: $1 each) </i>

In 1859, the English gentleman and scholar Edward FitzGerald published his first translation of the quatrains attributed to the Persian mathematician, astronomer, philosopher and poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1122). FitzGerald spent the next decades reworking his translations: The fifth version was published posthumously in 1889. This edition of the two most famous translations is part of a new literary series from Dover that includes “The Call of the Wild” by Jack London, “The Importance of Being Ernest” by Oscar Wilde, Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Herman Melville’s “Bartleby” and “Benito Cereno,” each priced at just $1. Although the notes in the plain-wrap volumes are minimal, the bindings are sturdy and serviceable. These Thrift Editions return to the original notion of the paperback book as an inexpensive way to build a library of literary classics.