World Textiles and Textiles as Art

Books to enhance your understanding of textiles as an important art and culture touchpoint. In support of the Royal BC Museum's feature exhibit, Global Threads: The Art and Fashion of Indian Chintz, on from March 28, 2025 ­- September 28, 2025.

Updated May 24, 2025
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African textiles : colour and creativity across a continent
Gillow, John
Paper Book
African Textiles is an authoritative survey of textile arts--unique and collectible rugs, tapestries, garments, and much more--from across the continent. John Gillow has traveled extensively throughout Africa, uncovering the dazzling range of traditional, handcrafted, indigenous textiles from...
Empire of cotton : a global history
Beckert, Sven
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE BANCROFT PRIZE * A Pulitzer Prize finalist that's as unsettling as it is enlightening: a book that brilliantly weaves together the story of cotton with how the present global world came to exist. "Masterly ... An astonishing achievement." --The New York...
The fabric of civilization : how textiles made the world
Postrel, Virginia I.
Paper Book
From Paleolithic flax to 3D knitting, explore the global history of textiles and the world they weave together in this enthralling and educational guide. The story of humanity is the story of textiles -- as old as civilization itself. Since the...
Indigo : in search of the color that seduced the world
McKinley, Catherine E.
Paper Book
For almost five millennia, in every culture and in every major religion, indigo-a blue pigment obtained from the small green leaf of a parasitic shrub through a complex process that even scientists still regard as mysterious-has been at the center of turbulent human encounters. ...
Patterns of India : a journey through colors, textiles, and the vibrancy of Rajasthan
Chitnis, Christine
Paper Book
It's the trip of a lifetime-a textile-based tour of colorful Rajasthan, India featuring more than 200 lush photographs depicting everyday life in one of the most vibrant regions in the world. "Get lost in the beauty of the photographs inPatterns of India,a striking...
Textiles : the whole story : uses, meanings, significance
Gordon, Beverly.
Paper Book
There are few aspects of our lives--physical, emotional, spiritual--in which thread and fabrics do not play a notable part. Beverly Gordon reminds us memorably and movingly of the powerful significance of fabric throughout human history. Her study of textile art and history is combined with her own...
Women's work : the first 20,000 years : women, cloth, and society in early times
Barber, E. J. W. 1940-
Paper Book
Twenty thousand years ago, women were making and wearing clothing created from spun fibers. In Women's Work, archaeologist-linguist Elizabeth Wayland Barber "weaves the strands of mythology and literature, ethnology and documented history into a rich tapestry" (John Noble Wilford, New York...
World textiles : a concise history
Schoeser, Mary.
Paper Book
Mary Schoeser's groundbreaking book presents a chronological survey of textiles around the world from prehistory to the present day, exploring how they are made, what they are made from, how they function in society, and the ways in which they are used and given meaning. From the...
World textiles : a sourcebook
Paper Book
Featuring textiles from the Balkans, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Central and South America, this book reveals an eclectic selection of over 150 textiles that illustrate the richness and diversity of world textiles. With expert commentary that highlights the key features of the designs and...

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