A twelve-lesson instruction manual in reed basketry by Mary Miles Blanchard. It begins with materials, tools and the eight fundamental weaves (over-and-under, Japanese, pairing, triple, coil and arrow). It then moves through round and oval bases, work-baskets, handled baskets, flower, candy, scrap and gathering baskets, Indian centres, borders and handle winding. Each lesson gives model dimensions and reed sizes, numbered paragraphs, review questions, and a chapter of answers. The book has many photographs of finished models, colored diagrams of weaving and handle-winding sequences, a table of weaves, coils, measurements and borders, and an index.

Chapter VII of Otis T. Mason's The Origins of Invention (pp. 224-257 of the London/New York 1901 edition) surveys textile arts among so-called primitive peoples. It covers bark cloth and tapa, woven, twined and coiled basketry, matting, spinning and cordage, simple looms and heddles, netting, loopwork, sewing, feather work, embroidery, decoration and dyeing. Examples are drawn from Polynesia, Africa, the Americas and Asia, with illustrations of basketry weaves and a Zuni woman weaving a blanket.