5 comments about Oriental Carpet Design: A Guide to Traditional Motifs, Patterns and Symbols.

1. helpful, easy to read, nice job, it will be the right-hand of the specialists in carpets



2. This is a comprehensive, well-researched, and lavishly illustrated guide to Oriental carpet design. Despite this, the book is actually rather limited in its coverage: the vast majority of the rugs the author describes are from the mid-20th century. Therefore, "Oriental Carpet Design" may somewhat disappoint serious collectors, and will provide novices a surfeit of information on rugs from a very specific time in history. As an alternative, while it focuses on 19th century, museum-quality rugs which are beyond the reach of most of us, I think Murray Eiland's "Oriental Carpets: A Complete Guide" remains the best single volume on the subject.



3. This book is an outstanding resource for anyone from novice to expert, who wants to identify or has an interest in oriental carpets and rugs.



4. The book is a very well written vol d'oiseau over modern oriental rugs and carpets with excellent pictures and timely historical notes. Certainly one of the best works available in the field both to beginners and connoisseurs.



5. This is an excellent book to find all the information one needs on Persian and Oriental carpets. Very informative, and beautiful colour plates.

3 comments about Tribal and Village Rugs: The Definitive Guide to Design, Pattern & Motif.

1. This book is not only attractive, but contains a wealth of knowledge about antique and modern rugs.
   
   Phyllis Pentecost



2. Absolutely stunning. Clear illustrations, clear text, beautiful layout. A stunning book that I am pleased to have added to my library.



3. Fantastic book---definitive info on all aspects of handmade rugs, including each part of the rug: border designs, major & minor motifs, origins of each of these with many attributed to multiple sources. I love to keep this book close at hand & use it frequently as a reference source for rugs & textiles from many of the countries in the Middle East, southwestern, northwestern, and central Asia, & many countries & regions that no longer exist in their original borders. This is one of the top 2-3 reference books that I use most frequently to identify the many elements in the rugs & textiles that I sell & also ones that I buy for my personal collection. It's absolutely fascinating--I just bought one of these for a friend who has a long-standing interest in the subjects covered in this book & she was THRILLED(!!!) with this book.

5 comments about Oriental Carpets: A Complete Guide - The Classic Reference.

1. Caveat: You won't know a thing about rugs until you start to shop around, until you start touching them. You'll have to look at the knots, at the foundation and the edges, and run your hands over the pile. You'll need to feel the difference between a silk weave and a wool weave. That said, this book gives a thorough informational grounding in the topic.
   
   The book starts with an account of what little is known of the origins of carpet making. The next chapter describes how carpets are constructed. Weavers make short knots that form the visible pile; the pile is woven on an invisible foundation of warps and wefts. There are many types of knots, and surprisingly many types of warps and wefts as well! The book then explains what materials are used--mostly wool, cotton, and silk--how they are spun into yarns, and how they are colored, with either natural or synthetic dyes. The colors are of course central to a carpet's designs, which is the topic of the following chapter.
   
   The authors then proceed to review the great carpet making regions. There's a huge chapter on Persian rugs, followed by a chapter on Turkish rugs. These are followed by shorter chapters on the rugs of the Caucasus, India & Pakistan, China, Turkestan, Tibet, North Africa, and the Balkans.
   
   Rugs are like wine, or like any fine object. One cannot learn the topic from a book, one must learn from the things themselves. A good book though is invaluable in reducing how long it will take to feel comfortable with the topic.
   
   One last word. There are 348 illustrations of extremely high quality, making the book itself a very beautiful object. It's a great coffee table book.
   
   Vincent Poirier, Tokyo



2. This is a classic, serious reference book on the different styles of oriental carpets. All geographical areas are covered so it is a great introduction to the field. It is probably the only book you need to buy unless you become serious in collecting carpets.
   
   There is a disconnect between the pictured carpets in the book and the carpets you will find in a carpet shop. The pictures are of older carpets. It would have been nice to have a stronger bridge to what is actually available for purchase today. The hardest issue buying modern oriental carpets is not to overpay. Sure there are fakes, but if you go to a reputable dealer that is not a major problem. However, even reputable dealers are hard to pin down on price. Don't expect any such information in the book.



3. This book is a good introduction to rug basics, with rich illustration and good coverage of the main carpet-producing regions in Asia and the Middle-East. However, the book leaves much to be desired as a genuine tool to help one actually collect rugs. It gives out basic information in a general lecture-like fashion (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but does not really make an effort at reaching out to the reader in terms of the actual experience of buying/handling/trading carpets (which is definitely a bad thing). One glaring weakness is the paucity of information on Central Asian rugs outside of Turkmenistan (arguably because the book was written at a time when Central Asia was not as easily accessible as it is now). There is also, it must be said, a somewhat superior tone to the writing that is not necessary and does take away from the pleasure of reading on the subject. Still, all things considered, this is a valuable book to own.



4. This is an excellent way to learn about rugs from top to bottom -- it eases you slowly into a comprehensive knowledge of rugs. I feel that this will help me greatly in my work - I just started doing customer service for a rug company. Great buy to anyone who wants to be educated thoroughly on the business of rugs.



5. Bought for myself as a tool to help teach myself about Persian rugs, this book is so wonderful I gave it as a housewarming present to a friend of mine, freshly divorced who is decorating his new house. Perfect! The authors, the Murray Eilands Jr. and III, a father and son team, are experts in their field. The father, a practicing psychiatrist in California, has been studying and collecting Oriental rugs for almost 40 years, and his son has a doctorate from Oxford in Near Eastern archeology (including textile development), so you would be learning from very special, knowledgeable accomplished folks who love their textiles and rugs. I recommend this book highly.

5 comments about Navajo Rugs: The Essential Guide.

1. Excellent Book on Navajo Rugs. Great for the collector, giving some history and what to look for, as well as for the Navajo Rug Weaver. Good, basic information to help you make sure you're buying a genuine rug woven in the Navajo way. I enjoy reading about the history as I do weave Navajo Rugs and find everything I can read of interest. This is not a how to weave a Navajo Rug Book. There are many other weaving books out there on How to Weave Navajo Rugs. The Navajo Rug Collector/Historian would enjoy adding this book to their library.



2. Pretty much useless - unless you literally have never laid your eyes on a Navajo rug before. I needed values and how to tell the difference between Zapotec and Navajo, I got neither.



3. This book is a direct to the point, easy to understand guide on Navajo rugs. Works like a practical handbook, and a must own for connoisseurs and enthusiasts of Navajo rugs.



4. I have recently started to purchase different types of Native American rugs and blankets. This guide has been a tremendous help in identifing Navajo rugs.



5. This is a must have book if you are interested in collecting and purchasing Navajo rugs as well as learning about the history of these items. Easy to read and full of essential facts. I plan to order 2 more copies for friends who are very interested in the Navajo weavings.

No comments about Persian Rugs and Carpets: The Fabric of Life.

3 comments about Oriental Rugs from A to Z (Schiffer Book for Collectors).

1. This book had beautiful colored pictures of many carpets. A very helpful book at a good price.



2. Illustrations and photographs were breathtaking. Price comparisons were helpful, but very little content on rug parameters and significance with regard to final results and quality.



3. Beautiful. A clear and concise readable guidline. There were a lot of wonderful pictures and all the information was very clear and understandable. A very valuable source for anyone who is thinking of buying an Oriental Rug.

No comments about Starting To Collect Antique Oriental Rugs (Starting to Collect Series).

2 comments about Rags to Rugs: Hooked and Handsewn Rugs of Pennsylvania.

1. If you love rug hooking, and particularly early hooked rugs, you will love this book. It is well written and beautifully illustrated with early hooked rugs. I've never tire of looking at these wonderful rugs. This book would be a great addition to anyone's hooked rug library.



2. This book has some of the most beautiful rugs. It chronicles the journey of PA rugmakers and their fabulous works. Recommended.

No comments about American Hooked and Sewn Rugs: Folk Art Underfoot.

5 comments about Rugs to Riches: Guide to Buying Oriental Rugs, Revised & Updated Edition.

1. While I own a few rugs from a previous trip to the Middle East courtesy of Uncle Sam, I wanted to better educate myself to place myself into a better bargaining position with the local merchants. I believe this book is an excellent resource and explains a great deal about the history, workmanship, and variety of Oriental carpets, but it also includes tips on how to shop (including haggling), how to pick rugs based on your home, and cleaning and care recommendations. The only downside is the age of the commentary since the market has changed, at least from what I see, since this book was written. Nevertheless, it is a great introduction to the fascinating and beautiful world of Oriental rugs.



2. This book is a ruggy good read, more intoxicating than Class A rugs. I recommend reading it rugularly whilst listening to "Rugged Out on Death Row" or suitable Ruggae/Rugga classic. While I'm dishing out advice here is another tasty rugget of information that goes right for the rugular. Don't stick metal objects into rug sockets or you will experience rugor mortis. This book is finer than the collected works exhibited in the Ruggenheim Museum in it's artistic merit. Sit down with a rug of tea perhaps on a rugboat and enjoy it, or even take a bar stool in your local Rug and Lettuce with a rug of frothing ale. If you encounter a buxom young wench with a nice set of rugs, offer to walk her home so she doesn't get rugged. But all this is rendered rugatory when considering the actual subject matter of this book, namely, carpets. Read this book, you'd be a rug not to. If you don't, well, you've rug your own grave.
   Rugs and Kisses!
   
   (I do hope this review conforms to the Rules and Rugulations that Amazon sets forth!)



3. What I mean is, the book is full of vignettes that illustrate basic points about shopping -- AND EVEN ABOUT NEGOTIATING !! -- things that are obvious once you think about them, but which you might never have realized. My favorite example: Suppose you see a rug with a price tag of a certain amount, and you say to the salesperson, "The most I'd pay is [such-and such]" -- well, what you've really just said, without knowing it, is that the amount you said is THE LEAST you're going to pay, not "the most," because you've shown that you're willing to pay it and that you can. It's a useful kind of thing to be aware of for any deal you might ever be involved in, whether as buyer or seller. I'm sure you could get things like this from Donald Trump's books, but it's interesting that they're here too.
   
   The book gives an EXCELLENT overview of oriental rugs. The writing and organization are excellent. You'll learn about the main types of rugs, and how to recognize them -- and how to match and combine rugs. Even in the most elegant settings, we often see POOR combinations; this book gives good, easily-applied guidelines for doing a GOOD job of this.
   
   Some readers criticize the book's pricing guidelines -- but actually they're quite good and very useful, as long as you realize their limitations. Yes, they're simplistic, and the projected rates of appreciation were recognizably absurd even at the time the book was written. (By those formulas, most rugs before long would have attained the value of Fort Knox.) So, the author was a bit innumerate, and anyone who purchased rugs assuming infinite price appreciation has been disappointed. Blame the author? Maybe a little.



4. I first encountered Rugs_to_Riches when I was researching and planning the purchase of my Persian Rug. I found five books at my local library, one of them dated 1908, that covered the topic of purchasing and keeping oriental carpets. All of them, with the exception of Rugs_to_Riches stated that "the carpets you buy today aren't as good as the old ones available 30, or 40, years ago." This is basically balderdash!

   Rugs_to_Riches proved to be a refreshing exception to this nonsense. It was the best starting guide that a beginner like me could find as I searched out one of those beautiful treasures of the orient. The pricing guides are good for comparison of type & quality, but should not be relied upon for exact valuation of a carpet.

   Also, the old rule of "one man's trash is another man's treasure" applies here. Never ever purchase an oriental carpet because it may be valuable. If it doesn't match your home's decor, it'll end it's life as a moth-eaten rag in your closet. Make sure that you actually like the piece before you buy it. I purchased my carpet in a bazaar, not at a dealer's shop in Houston, New York, or even, in L.A. As a consequence, my purchase was *FINAL*! If you plan on purchasing a carpet with even the slightest chance of returning it, because it doesn't match your decor, then go to a reputable dealer. If you are sure of your taste in carpets, design, and home decor, then, grab this reference, and book a flight to the Orient for a haggle-fest.

   Finally, on the purchasing of "antique" carpets. Never buy one, unless you see a pattern that you definitely want & you can't get it in a "new" carpet. Most of the price of "antique" carpets is for the (mostly unprovable) antiqueness of the carpet. Only buy an "antique" from a dealer, if you are purchasing one for it's antiqueness. Never, that is, unless you are an "expert", or you can afford to be "taken". Have an "antique" appraised *first* by a reputable 3d party *before* you bid on it. Otherwise, just buy a new one, and remenber that your great grand children will have incontrovertable proof of their "antique" oriental carpet in about 100 years, or so.

   All in all, a good book for the beginner. I recommend it.




5. If you are new at collecting, want to know if you want to collect, or just want to know about rugs, this is a good book. Takes you from the beginning and walks you through. Not a book a dealer would use, but one I would recommend for those curious. Beachum's review here on Amazon is a little too harsh in my opinion. While the price of rugs is too fluid and dependent on variables that cannot be captured in a book, there are some valuable points the pricing chapters make for the beginner. Not all rugs appreciate at the same rate. Condition and age are critical. Etc. I found the "value factor multiplier" interesting and roughly accurate - that is - a rank ordering of which type of rugs have appreciated faster over time than others. The focus on the economics of rug collecting was disturbing.