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Antique Hooked Rugs - Antique Ming Chinese Rugs - Oriental Rug Washing Austin - Antique Oriental Rugs |
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Stone, Peter. The Oriental Rug Lexicon. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1997.
BUY THIS BOOK! In the rug world there is almost a constant competition of scholarship. Very rarely does one person so dominate his field as to be the indisputable authority. One of those rare exceptions is Peter Stone. One rug restoration expert told me that there will never be another major book on rug repair in my life time because "Oriental Carpet Repair" by Peter Stone says it all. Stone's new book the "Oriental Rug Lexicon" may well exceed "Oriental Carpet Repair" as a scholarly triumph. If you are at all serious about collecting or if your rugs are anything more than floor coverings to you, you need this book. The Definitive Guide To Rugs, Carpets, and Trappings What Stone has done is to make one large dictionary of rug terms. He has identified and defined them in an interesting and informative manner. As soon as I received the Lexicon I decided to put it to use. The first job was to decipher a page of notes I had made on dyes and dye sources used in oriental carpets that someone had given me. To have a source where I can double check the difference between a flavenol and a luteolin is invaluable. Other questions are solved just as easily such as what is a Medici Mamaluk versus a regular Mamaluk. Rug books have so many alternate spellings that it is nice to have a source that confirms that a Khorjin, Kharjin, Khordjin, and a Khurdzhin, are all the same thing. The book is designed like a dictionary and it is easy to look up individual words. It is not designed to be read cover to cover but as I spot-checked the definitions I found some thing interesting and fun on virtually every page. As long as I am mentioning spot-checking let me say that I spotted no errors. If, indeed, there are no errors, inaccuracies or mistakes, I will be astounded. There is to be found a wealth of rug terms with all the common alternative spellings including some that I have not encountered until now. All in all, it is an amazing resource. The layout of the book is superb. It is packed with information! on without being crowded. There are many more color pictures than I would have expected with a book of this type and there is an abundance of helpful sketches and line art to illustrate and illuminate Stone's points. Just this week a good friend who has a world class rug collection told me I "have" to buy three books if I want to keep up with things. The total for all three is over $1000 US. I mention this only to make the point that at a list price of $29.95 (US currency for softcover edition, $60 for hardcover edition) Stone's book is about as close to free we are likely to see for a serious rug book. Let me sum up my opinion in just three words: BUY THIS BOOK! Stone, Peter. The Comical Carpet. Buchanan, Greenleaf Co., 1996.
Stone, Peter, ed. Mideast Meets Midwest: Ethnographic Rugs from Midwestern Collections Chicago: Chicago Rug Society 199.
Stone, Peter. Oriental Rug Repair. Seattle, Greenleaf, 1997.
Oriental Rug Repair - Finally
an Owners Manual for Oriental Rugs, October 4, 2000 Finally an Owners Manual for Oriental Rugs This book is about much more than repairing Oriental Rugs. It is an indispensable owners guide. Of all the most common questions people ask me about rugs Stone answers them in an easy to understand and easy to follow fashion. How do you hang a rug on a wall? It is in there. How do I get a stain out of my rug? Whether it is urine (a frequent question from pet owners)to asphalt Stone tells you what you need to save your rug. Stone covers such topics as "when to repair" or insect damage. Stone guides us through the problem in a way any of us can handle it with ease...when I tell you that this book is the best book in the field it is because after years of study I know what I am talking about. The thing I like about this book is that Stone gives us a depth of detail found no where else. For instance when it comes to spills do you clean up calamine lotion the same way you clean up aftershave lotion? No, two different processes and not knowing which one to use can ruin your rug. What about the actual repair part? I will freely admit that I have no intention of ever repairing my carpets or anyone else's but with this book I could. But even more importantly for me is with the information in this book I can understand what the repair person purposes when I take a rug in. I can at least nod knowingly when the repairman uses terms like reweaving or reknoting. By the way my brother Jim was textile conservator and he is the one who gave me my first edition of this book when I was just starting to study in the field. Jim told me this book was so good they would never need another. Jim was wrong this second edition is even better than the first. Should you buy this book? If you own an Oriental Carpet then the answer is yes. This is the indispensable information that every consumer needs... An owners manual for Oriental Rugs Stone, P.F. RUGS OF THE CAUCASUS: STRUCTURE AND DESIGN. 1984,
For Further Reading: Thanks and best wishes, J. Barry O'Connell Jr. |
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