Introduction

The Silk Road was named after the most luxurious commodity — woven silk — that made its way along its various routes from China to Rome, as well as many other destinations. Silk and other textiles also continue to be central to our mapping of the history of the book along the trade routes of the premodern world. Textiles appear in and around the book itself, as luxurious page covers or inner cover linings, protective wrappings, structural reinforcement in the book’s binding, or the very material on which words are written.