Cloth has always been the most global of all traded commodities. It is an illuminating example of the circulation of goods, skills, knowledge and capital across wide geographic spaces. South Asia has been central to the making of these global exchanges over time. This volume presents innovative research that explores the dynamic ways in which diverse textile production and trade regions generated the first globalization . A series of experts connect this global commodity with the dramatic political and economic transformations that characterised the Indian Ocean in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Collectively, the essays transform our understanding of the contribution of South Asian cloth to the making of the modern world economy.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Nearly four hundred textiles from East and West are reproduced in full color in this handbook of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's encyclopedic collections, which cover a broad range of geographic areas, periods, and techniques. Each chapter is introduced by a brief history of that particular aspect of the museum's collections, placing it within the context of textile scholarship and collecting in the United States and Europe.

A luxury volume on a luxury designer, A Romance of East and West presents the residential work of Baltimore-based interior decorator Mona Hajj. Characterized by delight and discovery, grandeur, and rustic charm, Hajj's work spans a wide range of historic periods and styles. Her interiors combine a far-reaching global vision with an American emphasis on elegance, comfort, and simplicity. Born in West Africa and educated in Europe, Lebanon, and the United States, Mona Hajj brings a truly eclectic aesthetic to her interiors. Since founding Mona Hajj Interiors in 1990, she has produced a body of work that is grounded in classicism yet influenced by modern-day styles and ways of living. Her international background inspires the work in myriad ways, from the inclusion of a Syrian chest of drawers to a reference to Moroccan ceramic tiles. A Romance of East and West features antique European and Middle Eastern textiles from Hajj's personal collection that inspire the use of color and pattern in her work.