The Book of Silk follows the story of this remarkable material through 5,000 years, reproducing hundreds of fabrics, furnishings, and garments from all parts of the world. From ancient China, where the secret of reeling silkworm cocoons was first discovered, the narrative leads by the legendary Silk Routes to Byzantium and the Islamic world, to Ottoman Turkey and India - and on to the Renaissance, baroque, and rococo silks of Western Christendom...