Omar Khayyam
3 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Omar Khayyam. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
o'mer khi-yam,' a Persian poet and historian. His name signifies Omar the tentmaker. According to tradition he lived during the latter part of the eleventh century. He appears in some way to have been able to obtain an education. He made a reputation as an astronomer. The Arabic ruler of Persia offered him a public position, but he requested instead the means of living and studying in private. He revised the ancient Persian calendar in 1074. He left a work on algebra; also a commentary on Euclid's geometry, both of which are extant. He is best known as a poet. He wrote in rhymed quatrains, reminding the student of Ecclesiastes. His quatrains, or rubaiyat, the native term, are supposed to have been about five hundred in number. The Moslem clergy considered him far from orthodox and took no pains to preserve his poetry, although they are credited with having put many of his lines and ideas to their own use. As a matter of fact, Omar bore about the same relation to the clergy of Persia that was sustained by Voltaire to the clergy of France. Many of his rubaiyat are, in fact, epigrams directed against the narrowness, the bigotry, and hypocrisy of the day. The rubaiyat have been collected by many scholars, particularly Edward Fitzgerald, an English orientalist. Like the proverbs of Solomon and Ecclesiastes to which reference has been made, they have little connection. The theme changes from quatrain to quatrain; from worship of Allah to defiance; from hope to fatalism; from rebellion to humility. See Fitzgerald ; Edward
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
(See Assassins .) Onimancy, or the observation of the angel Uriel, is thus performed. Upon the nails of the right hand of an unpolluted boy or a young virgin, or the palm of the hand, is put some oil of olives, or what is better, oil of walnuts mingled with tallow or blacking. If money or things hidden in the earth be sought, the face of the child must be turned towards the east. If crime be inquired into, or the knowledge of a person out of affection, towards the south; for robbery towards the west, and for murder towards the south. Then the child must repeat the seventy-two verses of the Psalms, which the Hebrew kabalists collected for the Urim and Thummim . These will be found in the third book of Reuclin on the kabalistical art, and in a treatise de verbo mirifico. In each of these verses occurs the venerable name of four letters, and the three lettered name of the seventy-two angels, which are referred to the inquisitive name Schemhammaphoras, which was hidden in the folds of the lining of the tippet of the high priest. When the curious student has done thus much, Saunders assures him that he "shall see wonders," but he omits to specify what these wonders are. Chiromancers give the name Onyomancy to the inspection of the natural signs on the nails.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a Persian poet, astronomer, and mathematician; born in Nishapur in Khorasan. His scientific works, which were of high value in their day, have been eclipsed by his "Rubaiyat," a collection of about 500 epigrams in praise of wine, love, and pleasure. A portion of the "Rubaiyat" was translated or rather adapted into English verse by Edward Fitzgerald (1859-1879), and enjoyed a wide popularity. Other versions the were made but Fitzgerald's remains best. Omar Khayyam died in Mishapur 1123.