SOLD Les Routes de la Soie (The Silk Roads) * £15 €35 $70 Shipping included (Australia and New Zealand $80)

This is a large format hardback book of 200 pages in pristine condition. This is a French language book.

Silk and the silk roads has long been a fascination of mine, ever since I was small, combining as it does exotic thread and travel to distant lands. Even now, I find there are new discoveries to be made, pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of trade and ornament fitting together.

From earliest times, silk has been the parure of the great - garb was never made of silk!

Coveted by the Romans, ever since the beginning of this era, silk was the premier item of exchange between China and the west. In later times, after the 'discovery' of the 'New World' and its wealth of silver, that same silver was sucked east through the ports of Spain and Portugal around the globe to the coffers in China. Silk was a constant drain of European wealth - and no matter what sumptuary laws were passed, nothing seemed to stem the flow.

Based on the most up-to-date research, Pernot the author of this book, invites us to follow in the tracks of the merchant adventurers across the perilous and wonderful silk roads.