The San Francisco call., 1901-10-20


they had in them something OF the feel
ing of the rugs which they represent The
pictures will stand comparison with the
originals, which is a severe test OF color
printing.
1t is but fair in a review Of a conscien-
tiously written book. which shows labor OF
research in its making. to give some of
the preface. which is the authors own
best words about 1t. Mr.. Mumford says:
THE volume here presented goes the
first into a field as empty as It Is ex-
tensive. 1t is the result OF several years
study, and the author hopes that 1t will
serve well the purpose which prompted its
creation.
THE maker of books Of this sort Is.
after all, only a weaver. The warp and
weft Of fact are paramount. These the
writer has sought assiduously wherever
they were to be found. including the mys-
terious. contradictory East.
''Out OF the years spent in the work
little time has been devoted to the fanci-
full or imaginative side Of the subject
been accepted as coroliaries. assumed as
among the reasons for the books exist
ence. and therefore perhaps neglected in
the presentation. To those who have al
ready come under the spell OF the East
ern weavipgs this will not be felt az
lack.
What OF color has been distributed
through these pages is Of more moment
TO those who are still cropping In the dark
belief that rugs are merely-rugs. II too
little OF tingent has been employed IT is
because the fabrics themselves, properly
understood, provide II In plenty. far better
than can any vocabulary or any thesaurus
of poetic imagery. II foundation shall
here have been laid for that understand
ing the work will have been well done
and the worker will be content"
The table OF contents Ia most books is
dry enough. but that in Oriental Rugs
sends delicious shivers of delight up and
down the back of the lover OF rugs vino
is for the first time promised a revelation
of those secrets which he has SO often
tried TO puzzle cut by studying the
sphinN-like rugs themselves. which tell
little more 10 the unsophisticated than do
the knots in the string which constitutes
an Indians diary record of his adventures
tell TO any but the one e'who tied them.
The chapter headings are as follows:
History. The RGg-Weaving Peoples, Ma
terials. Dyers and Dyes. Design, Weaving,
Classification, Caucasian, Turkish. Per-
sian. Turkoman. Khilims and Indian. a
set of tables in the back of the book
gives the trade names of all rugs. togeth-
er with the kind of knot with which each
is tied. the color and material of the warp
and weft. the material and length of the
pile description of the manner of I'm
ishing the sides and ends and the number
Of knots TO the inch. both horizontal and
vertical. This is of great assistance in
enabling one to tell the name of any
given rug and also to know whether the
rug in question Is true 10 the require
ments of the type to which IL is sup
posed to belong A very complets and
volumirous index, and maps showing the
names of towns and countries in the rug
making region and from which the rugs
take their names. complete the book.
New as the rug OF the Orient is TO US.
one will be astonished by Mr.. Mumford's
showing of how the manufacture of them
in Central Asia has been dsbased By the
introduction OF Western methods. dyes
and even designs. which would make
Mohammed turn in his grave: for in
stance in one case. that of a
life-s,ze Russian officer in uniform
done in aniline dyes. European
and American dealers have taken
their energy and push with them
ard are now employing the native wea4
ers to work in their native towns. making
cheap limitations from machine-spun
woods dyed with chemicals and following
patterns which are jumbles OF every de-
sign used from the Bosphorus TO Belu-
chistan- These are to supply the demand
for cheap" rugs. They no more deceive
the careful observer, even II he be with
out technical knowledge. than could an
American be deceived by a flag of his
country bearing twelve stars and four
teen stripes.
Before the course OF empire baked and
commenced to back up eastward again,
in controversion of the poets statement.
the rugs of Asia were genuine, all wool,
dyed In the wool and struck In the weave
fabrics Now that the foolish men from
the West have commenced to work their
graft upon the craft OF the wise men from
the East they are using every method to
endeavor TO make time lie for them. and
By giving an appearance of age to the
rugs which their sweat shop system pro-
duces make them appear to be antiques
and therefore genuine OF this Mr.. Num-
ford says:
''It may be that your antique which
you brought home yesterday in all the.
proud Joy Of ownership has within its
brief twelve months OF existence been
made to undergo many processes. II may
have been treated with lemon Juice and
oxalic acid, for example. to change it's
fiaring reds into old shades. or with coffee
10 give 1T the yellow Of years. Its lust6r
may be born OF riycerine. u may have
been sinGed with hot irons Its hues may
perhaps nave been dulled with smoke. IL
may have been buried I'm the ground and
then renovated. saEd-papered back and
front to give the thinness OF old age. aid
for the sheer dcerepitude OF an almost
sacred and invaluable antiquity ham
mered and combed at the sides and ends
and on spots ever It's surface. There is
no end 10 these devices. and not much
for them.
''On the whole. II is to be well consid-
cred whether. with these facts in view,
the wisest course in selecting Oriental
rugs for all save most opulent buyers
the 'collectors'-is TO abandon the rather
bootless search for genuine antiques and
purchase fabrics confessedly new but
which conform minutely to the highest
standards: which have the requisite num-
ber of knots to the square inch: the col
ors. which will not run when attacked by
water; the patterns o! which are purely
the patterns Of the East--what may, to
identify them. be called practical an
tiques.
THE money paid for artificial age
would secure all these merits In q new
fabric, the amount Of service and genuine
comfort derived would prove greater in