Basketry is among the most widespread and ancient crafts — one that is highly satisfying to both craftspeople and collectors and appealing in utilitarian as well as esthetic terms. Over the centuries, basket-making techniques have been used to manufacture an amazing assortment of items: crab or lobster pots, eel traps, winnowing fans, horse collars, fish creels, seed-gathering baskets, portable stalls used by street vendors, huge "skeps" for sorting wood — even one-person boats (or coracles) and enormous crates for transporting prize livestock to shows. These items and many more are fully described, and often pictured, in this profusely illustrated edition of an authoritative classic.
Dorothy Wright, a lifelong student of basketry and cataloger of the basket collection of the Museum of English Rural Life, charmingly relates the history and geography of a plethora of baskets and gives the specifics of their construction. She provides detailed advice on basket design, materials, techniques, care, and repair, and gives step-by-step instructions (in easy-to-follow "recipe" format) for making an array of baskets, including a tall oval shopping basket, wastepaper basket, lidded picnic basket, all-purpose plate, wine cradle, fruit bowl, cane rattle, carpet beater, and more — made with a wide range of materials including willow, cane, ruch, raffia, straw, grasses, palms, and coppice woods, and by a variety of techniques, including stake-and-strand (wickering), framing or ribbing, coiling, plaiting, and twining.
Craftspeople, collectors, students of traditional crafts, and general readers will find themselves fascinated by this authoritative survey.