The settled and nomadic people of Saudi Arabia - their arduous life, their generosity, chivalry and stoicism - are well known, but their arts and crafts remained largely unrecorded until the publication of the first edition of Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia. This fully illustrated and authoritative work now appears in a revised and amplified edition.<BR>The work covers all aspects of Saudi Arabian culture: weavings, costumes and jewellery, leatherwork, woodwork, basketwork, metalwork and the equipment needed for life in the desert. Most of the artefacts have been collected by John Topham, who over many years in Saudi Arabia sought out the best and most representative examples of Bedouin arts and crafts - a collection which has been exhibited throughout America in major museums. For the present edition of Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia, Topham returned to Saudi Arabia to augment both his research data and his collection.<BR>He brings together a distinguished team of contributors. From the late W. E. Mulligan comes a masterly account of the traditional lifestyle of the Bedouin and its adaptation to encroachment from without, while Anthony Landreau describes Bedouin weaving. Topham himself covers the varied range of nomadic and village equipment and crafts, and weaponry.<BR>Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia is both a guide for the layman and a work of reference for the specialist. It illustrates the beauty and the variety of form, technique and colour in the arts and crafts of Saudi Arabia, from women's elaborate headdresses, embroidered with silver beads and cowrie shells, to coffee boxes, camel saddles and swords and guns.