Traditional Textiles of Central Asia

There are so few accesible books written on this topic so coming across this was a real find. The pictures were gorgeous. The author has done a lot of research into the methods of weaving and dyeing that are now lost to the ages so if ever it would be feasible for someone to try to authentically manufacture these wonderous fabrics they'd need only pick up a copy of this book. However, I have only 2 problems with it. First, it seems to be written for those who already have knowledge of the technical aspects of weaving and not for the layperson. I would have liked to have read much more about the history and culture which the book only touched on very briefly. Second, a lot of focus (both in picture & text) was placed on the tribal and not enough on the urban. I would have liked to have seen more of a balance. All in all though a beautiful book- - lovingly and diligently researched and prepared. The author should be applauded for her work in this dying and forgotten art.

Fabulous book, great color photos, great text including lists of natural dyes, techniques, historical info. Indespentable if planning a trip to Central Asia

It's full of color & blk/white photos. Theirs a chapter dedicated to each country, with a concise history of their textiles & styles of textile arts.

This is a beautifully illustrated book. It gives a great of information on the textiles and is perfect for a textile student, collector, or someone who plans to visit the area.

A wonderful book on the textiles of Uzbekistan and neighbouring countries. A must have for any collector of Chappans and Kurpas.

A good, well-illustrated and inexpensive survey of Central Asian textile art. Color reproduction is good, and the text is both intelligent and intelligible. The selection of textiles is a pretty good representation of what was on the market 15 or 20 years ago, when it was written. It's probably still a decent preview of what a collector of ordinary means could afford today.The "perfect" binding of my paperback copy is still tight and solid after almost 20 years of (light) use. Nice book.Happy reading--Peter D. Tillman

A must!

Strong points:The topics covered by this book is quite comprehensive in breadth, introducing all areas of textile material, production, decoration and use. The text is written concisely and clearly, although certain technical parts are difficult to work out for someone without a background in textile production (see 'shortcoming' section). The text is also accompanied by a generous amount of beautifully printed pictures of textiles.Shortcomings:Although there are many pictures, it is difficult to correspond the text with the images because the images are found in separate sections from the text and are not referenced in-text. So when you look at the pictures later, you might remember that the same term in the caption has been mentioned in the text before and go 'ahhh so that's what it looks like!' But when you are just reading the text, you cannot immediately see how the textile/garment/motif looks like and cannot easily find the corresponding textile in the image pile. There is also a lack of diagrams explaining production techniques and procedures. This, combined with a large amount of technical terms, makes it very difficult to understand for someone like me without a background in textile production. So in the end it took a lot of googling and checking up youtube videos to understand visual aspect of textiles mentioned and the process of making some of the textiles. There is also quite a few typos, not significant enough the compromise the clarity of the text but might still bother some readers.Overall, it doesn't work so well as a stand-alone introduction to the traditional Central Asian textiles, and definitely takes a bit of extra research to understand how things described in text look like or how certain production techniques work, but nevertheless it is a rather beautifully printed book that can act as a concise introduction to further reading on the topic.

Ok

The book is in excellent condition. Many beautiful coloured photos. The text is very readable and informative. Great reference as Iam going to Uzbekistan.

I think this book is very good, gives all the basic information about all we need to know about Central Asian costumes and textiles. It is also inexpensive unlike other books which costs a fortune.