Description

Arts Council of Great Britain, London [Published date: 1972]. Hardcover, 59 pp, plus [56] unnumbered pages of plates; 31 cm; First edition. Color illustrations and plates throughout. Good+ in Good+ dust jacket. Green textured boards with gilt lettering on front and spine. Light scuffing and fading to edges of covers. Binding tight. Age spotting to top edge of text block. Publisher's bookplate reading "Number 130" tipped in as issued; with a printed memorial slip noting that Joseph V. McMullan died on June 2, 1973 before he was able to autograph any copies, so the numbered issue is unsigned as published. Prior owner's name in ink on front endpaper; otherwise pages are unmarked. Jacket has a few small nicks and light creasing to edges and corners, light overall scuffing, aging and soiling to jacket as well. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Not Ex-library. Published in connection with the exhibition "Islamic Carpets from the Collection of Joseph V. McMullan," held at the Hayward Gallery, London, from October 19 to December 10, 1972. Contents include: On Western attitudes to Eastern carpets by David Sylvester; Map; On the making of carpets by May H. Beattie; Chronological table; Catalogue by Joseph V. McMullan. [From front jacket flap] Over the past four decades, Joseph V. McMullan has assembled a brilliant, eclectic Islamic carpet collection which has received international recognition. The Arts Council of Great Britain exhibited a portion of the McMullan Collection at the Hayward Gallery in London from October 19 through December 10 1972, the first great carpet exhibition in London in forty years. This book documenting the show illustrates in color fifty-four of the most important pieces, with descriptions of each by Mr McMullan. David Sylvester, who devised and installed the exhibition, has written a valuable and lucid preamble describing early carpet collecting and tracing the development of the body of knowledge that fixes carpets in the context of Islamic art. In addition, there is an essay by May Beattie on carpet making in which she describes types of looms, dyeing, knotting techniques, and design. Islamic Carpets from the Collection of Joseph V. McMullan has been published in a limited hardcover edition, the first thousand of which are autographed by Mr McMullan.