How to Know Oriental Rugs: A Handbook

Oriental carpets – they’ve been around for a long time – You don’t need an expensive education to get information about these treasures. This book gives all the basics you will need to intelligently understand the techniques, cultures and territories that you will need to assess your purchases and make intelligent decisions at auctions. Yes, it was written 1904, but most of the valuable carpets were already old by that time. Here you will also find interesting historical information about the various tribes and countries of rug-makers.
“There are four qualities in Oriental rugs which commend them.
First, is durability. The life of the average domestic carpet may be reckoned by a few years, while that of the Oriental product can be measured by decades or generations.
Second, should be named their artistic beauty of design and coloring.
In the third place, we secure through them economy in furnishing. While the outlay at first is undoubtedly large, yet, in view of the wearing qualities of rugs, owners possess something which has real, permanent value.
Fourth, may be named the sanitary conditions which attend their use.”
-----
This illustrated eBook edition of the 1904 original has been carefully edited for errors and is as true to the original as possible. The spellings of the time have generally been left as the original. [EDB Pubs]

Publisher’s note: While it is true that some old books can be found for free on the internet, the quality of most ‘free’ material is not acceptable. Here is an example of the work to be done in order to produce a readable version for the Kindle reader:
Text found online:
Tint il i', so unique in chntucier iJiat d camiol be lediieed to ilie 1v'[*e o( p'-ydiia phcuomoiia viLIi winch wo aie famihai and I desire lioK to bring out [ho ulhanccs of Chvislianily valhcr Hum ils UTuquonos^. The fundamr ntal object of “miracles” was lo csiabh^li llie spmlnal claims of Chiisl.

The same text after editing:
But it is so unique in character that it cannot be reduced to the type of psychic phenomena with which we are familiar and I desire here to bring out the alliances of Christianity rather than its uniqueness. The fundamental object of “miracles” was to establish the spiritual claims of Christ.