Book Review

Newsletter for November Crown A.S. XXXVIII

"Tissus D'Egypte Temoins du Monde Arab VIIIc-XVc siecles: Collection Bouvier"

Published by Societe Presence du livre, 1993.

This is a beautifully presented museum catalogue. Unfortunately the text is in French, however it is readily decipherable using your head and a dictionary or online translator.

This book examines textiles from medieval Egypt.

It contains pictures and details of 13 knitted pieces from 10th-13th century Egypt. The text includes details of the number of stitches and rows per centimeter, the type of yarn used, and the colours, and a detailed description of all the pieces.

Photographs are clear enough to use to graph the designs used.

The pieces are all lovely, and include multicoloured wool fragments, narrow pouches (or possibly belt ends- the actual use of these pieces is uncertain) and some fragments which are probably from stockings.

This book also contains woven tapestry pieces and embroidered items.

This book is available through various internet book dealers, but unfortunately is rather expensive. A copy is located in the State Library of Victoria.

Knitted fragment, knitted from coloured wools at a gauge of 7 stitches and 15 rows per centimeter.
Click for larger Image.