If there were an embroidery bible, this would be it. The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is the creme de la creme of embroidery history and education. While this book does not contain specific projects, it does arm the reader with a wealth of knowledge & techniques for many types of embroidery.
This book is an amazing resource: a stitch dictionary, how-tos for finishing your work, historical overviews, and breaks down embroidery by focus.
Between it's hardcover pages, you'll learn about:
Crewelwork
Blackwork
Whitework
Silk Shading
Stumpwork (3D embroidery)
Bead Embroidery
Canvaswork
Goldwork
If you've seen the smaller RSN books published on these topics, this volume contains the same versions of those books, just all together.