Books by Matthew Blair

"The Epoch of the Shawl Trade in Paisley," writes the author of this interesting volume, "is now rounded off. Like a flower it came up, blossomed, and decayed." Even thus, in Paisley, does the poetic imagination weave garlands of blooming thoughts round textile fabrics. The book, however, is description and history, not an effusion of creative art. The shawls are now rarities sought for by collectors. To such persons this volume must prove uncommonly valuable as explaining, both by pictures and by written descriptions, the technical excellences of garments that must always rank among the most wonderful productions of the world-old craft of the weaver ." - The Scotsman, on publication in 1904.