A small, leather-covered book of handwritten patterns for gold brocaded tabletwoven bands resides in the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbuttel, Germany. Written in 1517 by Anna Neuper, a seventy-year-old nun in the St. Clare Convent in Nurnberg, it contains forty-five different patterns with variations and is among the earliest pattern books for any textile technique. These patterns have been transcribed into modern charts and are presented with background information by Nancy Spies with Ute Bargmann.
This book is a must for every tablet weaver and anyone who can work from graphed designs.
