A Bibliography of Oriental Carpets and Tribal Rugs

A selection of the most authoritative and well-written books on the subject.

The sheer number of available books on Oriental Carpets is truly amazing. Although many of these may be considered coffee-table books, with wonderful photos but out-of-date information and questionable research, there are a half-dozen or so books that really stand out for their depth of research, readability, and quality of material. The authors of this website have picked their favorites for this list. In alphabetical order:

	Allane, Lee, ORIENTAL RUGS A Buyer's GuideThames & Hudson, London, 1988 Bosly, Caroline, Rugs to Riches. An Insider's Guide to Buying Oriental Rugs Pantheon Books, New York, 1980 Davies, Peter, Antique Kilims of Anatolia W W Norton & Co. New York, 2000 Ford, P.R.J., Oriental Carpet Design Thames & Hudson, London, 1981 Gantzhorn, Volkmar, Oriental Carpets Benedikt Taschen Verlag Gmbh, Germany, 1998 Opie, James, Tribal Rugs, A Complete Guide to Nomadic and Village Carpets Little, Brown & Co, Boston, 1992 Parsons, R.D. Oriental Rugs Volume 3: The Carpets of Afghanistan
Oriental Carpet Design presents a scholarly account of the general history and essential features of oriental carpets. Another "must have" for your reference shelf.	Tribal Rugs is a lively and in-depth survey of the weavings of the nomadic peoples of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, the Caucasus and Central Asia. Without doubt the most interesting and readable survey of tribal rugs ever published. If you can only have one book on tribal carpets, this should be it!
Antique Kilims in Anatolia, by Peter Davies, is the classic reference on the Turkish kilim, and is an absolutely indispensable addition to your library of reference books on oriental carpets and tribal rugs. It also makes for some lively and interesting reading, bringing kilims and the people who created them to life in a vivid and extraordinary way. The book contains excellent, high resolution plates of Mr. Davies's personal collection of antique kilims. When I last spoke to Mr. Davies, he informed me that many of his most important antique kilims were housed in the World Trade Center and are now lost forever.

Please note that neither ldbrown web services nor the authors of this website have any commercial affiliation with any of the authors or publishers mentioned above. This list is presented as editorial opinion only.