From Booklist
Lots of color pictures in clear, brilliant focus make the difference in any home furnishings book; and collector, dealer, and now auction-house employee Middleton provides an easy-to-read one. Nuggets of information abound; for instance, Persians were the first to create carpets of curvilinear design, and the temperate climes of India dictated the development of the dhurrie, or cotton flat-weave rug. Occasionally, the data are a bit skimpy, as in the China-Tibet section; but the author points to a genuinely helpful bibliography. Maps introduce each of the eight rugs-by-geographic-origin chapters, which, in turn, are preceded by a detailed outline of the how, where, why, and who of carpet making. Knowledge that shouldn't be swept under the rug. Barbara Jacobs
