A South Kensington Museum Art Handbook (No. 1) by the Very Rev. Daniel Rock, abridged from the introduction to the museum's catalogue of textile fabrics. Eleven chapters survey the history of textiles: raw materials (wool, flax, hemp, cotton, silk, gold thread), named medieval cloths such as samite, cendal, baudekin, velvet and damask, and the silk-weaving schools of China, Persia, Byzantium, Sicily, Italy and Flanders. Later chapters cover embroidery (opus anglicanum, ecclesiastical vestments, banners), tapestry, carpets and quilts, with references to specimens in the South Kensington collection. Illustrated with woodcuts of looms, spinning, damasks, the Syon cope and tapestries; includes an index. There are no weaving drafts.