Sun Bow Trading Company: Outfitting Caravans from Downtown Charlottesville 1978-2018 Hardcover – July 26, 2023

What a wonderful journey this Book takes! I too am the proud owner of a few of these Carpets, Kilims and Bags from Sun Bow Trading Company. To read about the journey, makes what I own so much more precious. I have always loved the exotic nomadic textiles. The founders of Sun Bow and later Saul took this love to another level. To read and view the photos takes one into that world. What a fabulous expression of where they went and what they did. Michael Hladky has laid out a format that gives depth and scope to this history. It makes this book a magical read full of history and art. This Book is a true expression of what Sun Bow Trading Company was all about. Thanks for sharing your journey - Michael Subhan Spencer

Read this!!! Saul is one of the last of his kind. He gives insight into the cultures he visited. And the rugs and weavings are magnificent. Reading his book is like a visit to a special world. You can feel the love he has for those in Turkey, etc. etc. And, I'll bet good money that he is the godfather to many in each of those locales. It's kind of who he is.Rodger Schoonover

An interesting book with great pictures of various textiles chronicling both the travels and expertise of the author. The book provides an interesting view of various textiles from Turkey and central Asia, often providing information that can identify where they come from. Worth the time and money to read.

Indiana Jones lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. He shares his colorful life in this book.

The story at hand is an authentic slice of life for us to read, absorb, and take away whatever may be relevant for our enjoyment, our imagination, or our contemplation of what we may wish to offer those we serve in whatever profession or avocation we practice.

While ostensibly the history of a “trading company,” Sun Bow is really the history of journeys to visit and befriend people surviving at the end of the nomadic way of life in the modern world. This way of life was already deteriorating 50 years ago, and Saul Barodofsky offers a first-hand account of meeting artists and artisans along the Silk Road whom he began to encounter in the 1960s and made his collaborators. Before there was “fair trade” and “equal exchange,” people like Saul were doing their part to help those on the edge keep genuine art viable while its industrialized imitators were taking over. Handmade carpets, clothing, traveling bags, mystical talismans all play a part in this beautiful story, which takes place from the human’s eye view in many episodes illustrated with fine color photos. Like the store itself, there are many wonderful surprises around every corner!