Persian Carpets - History, Mystery, Lore -Oriental Rugs

Brian Murphy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Hard cover with dust jacket, 6.25” x 9.5”, 297 pages, color photographs.

Condition: Fine / New. A brand new, unread copy. No remainder mark. Gift quality.

Published at $25.00

From Publishers’ Weekly: “Murphy, an AP religion reporter, presents his travels across the zone where Persian carpets are made in a diligent quest to understand them as both art and commodity. He immerses himself in carpet-making culture, accruing trade secrets and learning specialized vocabulary from Afghan and Iranian mentors. Murphy begins his journey in a Tehran bazaar stacked high with carpets before traveling to the ancient weaving center of Herat, in northwestern Afghanistan, arriving weeks after the fall of the Taliban. Visiting Shiraz, he's impressed by the untutored intellect of young illiterate girl weavers. At last he finds himself amid wild madder fields (madder is the source of Persian carpets' characteristic shade of red). Taking in dog fights, gruesome games of polo and disturbing scenes of child labor and poverty, Murphy tactfully emphasizes the warm hospitality, expertise and enterprise of his Iranian and Afghan hosts, providing extended biographies for some of them. His book exudes humility and respect for Islamic culture and a welcome eyewitness account of, and historical information about, a region much in the news.”

From the dust jacket:

The Root of Wild Madder opens with an invitation that flows from the same ancient inspiration. "A carpet is poetry itself," an Iranian carpet merchant declares to author Brian Murphy. "You just have to learn to read them." So begins a journey. It follows Persian carpets from the remote villages of Afghanistan and Iran where they are woven - often by young girls - and on to the bazaars where they are traded, to the Sufis and mystic poets who find grace and magic in their time- less designs, and, finally and unexpectedly, to a carpet showroom in New York.

Told in exquisite prose befitting one of the world's loveliest art forms, The Root of Wild Madder eloquently chronicles how carpets embody humanity's endless striving for unattainable perfection. Here are stories of the weavers and their dreams, the "mules" who move the carpets from place to place, the tradesmen who sell them in the bazaars, and the refugee compelled to trade a carpet he believes contains the soul of his grand- mother - because his family must eat.

The madder plant has fed the carpets' red brilliance since the earliest weavings. But the power of its palette, like the dyers' traditions, threatens to pass from memory. It would be a profound loss. It's part of a world as rich as any sublime carpet: steeped in spirituality, culture, allegory, and, above all, mystery. Nearly all the carpet masterworks are anonymous art for the ages, and Murphy seeks out their glorious hidden narratives. As he observes, "Every car- pet carries its own distinctive voice. Suddenly I wanted to hear them."