THREADS OF EMPIRE - Book signing at The Nomads Tent
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"You certainly don't have to be a carpet aficionado to be drawn into Dorothy Armstrong's book; with a writing style that clips along, she reveals the beauty and fascination of carpets, moments of intrigue and controversy, and the surprising role of carpets at some great historical events." - Andrew Haughton.
Please click here to reserve a free place at this event.
Praise for THREADS OF EMPIRE by Dorothy Armstrong
‘A revelation, about the making of carpets, and of markets, and of aesthetic taste. This beautiful book balances Dorothy Armstrong's expertise and her enthralling storytelling perfectly. The tale of each carpet as she tells it is untidy and tragic and comical all at once’
Tessa Hadley, author, THE PAST
‘Beautifully written and ceaselessly entertaining’
Alexander Larman, author of POWER AND GLORY
‘A wonderfully conceived and very engagingly written window onto global culture, history and politics through the prism of carpets. Armstrong's enthusiasm, historical and technical command of her field, and her deep knowledge of so much of world history shines through like a bolt of enlivening sunshine’
Jaś Elsner, author of ROMAN EYES
‘Handwoven carpets have long been regarded as a hallmark of civilisation. Sought after by the rich and powerful alike as markers of status they have likewise been acquired as trophies by conquerors keen to cement their victories. This excellent study by Dorothy Armstrong shows how, over millennia, these ultimate status symbols have both defined and been defined by the political cultures that produced them’
Ali M. Ansari, author of IRAN
‘A carpet has many stories to tell, from the time and place where it was woven by hand through to the time and place where it was used and cherished. This book helps us to locate that object in a unique way thanks to the many layered perspective that the author offers interweaving the personal and global, the political and the cultural, the historic and the intangible into a narrative that puts carpets, perhaps unknowingly, at the centre of the human experience’
Ben Evans, editor, Hali Magazine
‘I am much enjoying this absorbing history of the world through the stories of twelve notable carpets. It tells engrossing tales of emperors, shahs, sultans and samurai, as well as the poor illiterate weavers who made them, and in the process sheds surprising light on the workings of empire’
Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller
‘Dorothy Armstrong weaves intricate, intertwined and colourful histories from twelve storied carpets; exploring the feet that have walked on them, the hands they have passed through and the many ideas and meanings they have carried. This engaging book encourages us to lower our eyes and consider the many stories held in the patterned worlds beneath our feet’
Xa Sturgis, Director, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
‘Shares a lifetime’s passion with enviable elegance. The vocabulary of storytelling is threaded with metaphors straight from the loom; this book shows us why’
Oliver Soden, author of MASQUERADE
