There is a scarcity of literature dealing with Chinese rugs. A knowledge of Chinese rugs is based on a knowledge of rugs in the general Asiatic sense, and on Chinese art in all its developments. CHINESE ART _By Stephen W. Bushell_ London, 1910. Chap. V, “Textiles, Woven Silks, etc.” CHINESE PICTORIAL ART _By Herbert A. Giles_ Shanghai, 1905. CHINESE POTTERY AND PORCELAIN _By R. L. Hobson_ Two Volumes. BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART February, 1909. L’ART CHINOIS _By M. Paleologue_ Paris, 1888. CHINESISCHE KUNST GESCHICHTE _By O. Münsterberg_ Esslingen, 1912. THE TIFFANY STUDIOS COLLECTION OF ANTIQUE CHINESE RUGS _By Mrs. M. C. Ripley_ New York, 1908. ORIENTAL RUGS BEFORE 1800 _By F. Martin_ London, 1909. ORIENTAL RUGS ANTIQUE AND MODERN _By W. A. Hawley_ New York, 1913. THE FLIGHT OF THE DRAGON _By Binyon_ London, 1908. EPOCHS OF CHINESE ART _By Ernest F. Fenellosa_ New York, 1913. THE OPEN LETTER [Illustration: A RUG OF EARLY DESIGN It is of heavy quality, dignified, and harmonious, in brown and gray colors. The device in the center is a symbol standing for long life] It is a curious fact that, while China is the oldest nation that we know, and the history of her civilization stretches back to the early morning of time, there are many interesting Chinese things with which we have only in recent years become familiar. The Chinese rug is a case in point. How long the Chinese have been making fine rugs no one can tell. It is safe, however, to say that, like their other arts, Chinese rugmaking is of very great antiquity. * * * * * And yet, as Mr. Mumford points out, the Chinese rug has come into vogue in the west only within the past fifteen or twenty years. It is true the vogue was anticipated by a few collectors in England and America, but they can be numbered on the fingers of one hand. Mr. H. O. Havemeyer, some twenty-five years ago, took a fancy to Chinese rugs and made quite a collection of them. They had no special market value then, for they were not sought after. Mr. Havemeyer collected them because he was attracted to them as unusual products of the loom, and then because, he found them to be an interesting and profitable subject of study. His collection is no doubt in the possession of his family today, and if a present day value were set upon those rugs they would probably show an appreciation over their original prices of fully a thousand per cent, if not more. * * * * *