I saw a reference to this somewhere, as a book that talked about the historical origins of stitches, so I got it from the library.

I now want my own copy.

Jacqeline Enthoven talks about stitches from their historical and their ethnic origins, meaning there are many stitches that you don’t normally see in an embroidery dictionary.

She also talks about building your own sampler and how to put stitches together to form new stitches, or a border.

I think the Amazon reviews say the rest :

http://www.amazon.com/Stitches-Creative-Embroidery-Jacqueline-Enthoven/dp/0887401112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251167557&sr=1-1

And also, some of the index (Click to enlarge)