Over 5,000 works published since the fifteenth century on textiles as art, craft, technology, industry & commerce. Including archaeological, ethnographic, religious (Islamic, Christian, Buddhist), secular, decorative, folk, textiles - Asia, Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Africa - prehistoric, ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo - woven silk, wool, linen, cotton, velvet, printed textiles, embroidery, lace, carpets, dyeing, tapestry, costume, and related subjects. Most with collations; many with descriptions; some with illustrations ...

In recent years, the study of textiles and culture has become a dynamic field of scholarship, reflecting new global, material and technological possibilities. This is the first handbook of specially commissioned essays to provide a guide to the major strands of critical work around textiles past and present and to draw upon the work of artists and designers as well as researchers in textiles studies. The handbook offers an authoritative and wide-ranging guide to the topics, issues, and questions that are central to the study of textiles today: it examines how material practices reflect cross-cultural influences; it explores textiles' relationships to history, memory, place, and social and technological change; and considers their influence on fashion and design, sustainable production, craft, architecture, curation and contemporary textile art practice. This illustrated volume will be essential reading for students and scholars involved in research on textiles and related subjects such as dress, costume and fashion, feminism and gender, art and design, and cultural history. Cover image: Anne Wilson, To Cross (Walking New York), 2014. Site-specific performance and sculpture at The Drawing Center, NYC. Thread cross research. Photo: Christie Carlson/Anne Wilson Studio.

Visual resources librarian Haddock (Western Michigan U.) substantially annotates the 444 articles she has identified as offering information on how archaeologists, curators, and others minimize the marks of time of clothing. She also presents the findings of her survey of the literature for such features as subjects and reading audience. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The history of textiles, more than that of any other artefact, is a history of human ingenuity. From the very earliest needles of 50,000 years ago to the smart textiles of today, textiles have been fundamental to human existence, and enjoyed, prized and valued by every culture. Silks from China, cottons from India, tapestries from Flanders, dyes from South America the appeal of different weaves, colours and patterns was long a motivation for trade, the exchange of ideas and sometimes even war. Mary Schoesers groundbreaking book, now revised and updated to incorporate new research, presents a chronological survey of textiles around the world from prehistory to the present. It explores how they are made, what they are made from, how they function in society and the ways in which they are valued and given meaning as well as reflecting on the environmental challenges they present today. World Textiles offers an invaluable introduction to this vast and fascinating subject for makers, designers, textile and fashion professionals, collectors and students alike.