Uzbekistan; Heirs to the Silk Road with contributions by M. Pavaloi, H. Gaube, G. Kurbanov, K. J. Brandy, H. Halm. T. Leisten, K. Ruhrdanz, J. Kalter, A. von Gladiss, G. Helmecke, M. Zerrnickel, G. Dombrowski, R. Eisener, and J. Stadelbauer

New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997. Presumed First U. S. Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Format is approximately 10.875 inches by 12.5 inches. 360 pages. Bibliography. DJ has some wear, tears and soiling. Minor edge soiling. 712 Illustrations, 437 in color. This is a very heavy book and if sent outside of the United States additional shipping costs would be required. Contents have sections on The Old Silk Road, Central Asia in Islamic Times. Turkestan under the Uzbek Khanates, and Uzbekistan. The Preface was by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Among the topics addressed are: Uzbekistan, Silk Road, Turkestan, Central Asia, Islamic, Architecture, Metalwork, Ceramics, Khanates, Bukhara, Khiva, Kokand, Equestrian Culture, Textile, Susanis, Embroideries, Jewelry, Aral Sea. In 1973 Kalter graduated with a Ph.D. and took up a position at the renowned Linden-Museum in Stuttgart in 1974, where he became the head chairman of the department for the Islamic Orient. He was leading this department until his retirement in 2005. During these three decades he not only organized a large number of exhibitions and worked on several collections of the Linden-Museum but also did various research trips, i.e. to Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia. Dr. Margareta Pavaloi, Dr.phil. (Tubingen) is an ethnologist and since 2000 director of the Ethnographic Museum. Since its rediscovery by European explorers and travelers in the nineteenth century, the Silk Road has lost none of its fascination. It continues to evoke images of heavily laden caravans crossing endless deserts, steppes, and mountain ranges to reach the markets of wealthy oasis towns. From the second century BC, this network of merchants' routes, well over 4,000 miles long, linked China and the Roman Empire. It served the trade of luxury goods, notably silk, and stimulated the spread of ideas about religion, culture, and art. The young republic of Uzbekistan, with its ancient urban cultural centers of Bukhara, Chiwa, and Samarkand, is the heartland of the Silk Road. The artistic and cultural history of the region, through more than two millennia, is clearly explained here, together with analyses of the architecture, the art of the book, Islamic arts and crafts, and the rich variety of textiles of the region. The wealth of illustrations is drawn from objects in European and Uzbek museums and private collections, many published for the first time.