Please recommend me some books on gems / gemology?

[Rae~]

While I've been a long-time lurker on CS and have picked up bits & pieces of info along the way, I'm looking to deepen my knowledge of coloured stones (and diamonds, coloured or otherwise, I suppose). I am also a bit of a non-fiction fan and would like to develop a small reference library of sorts, on gems & gemology.

What books would members recommend?

I have Richard Wise's "The Secrets of The Gem Trade", which is excellent. I also have Walter Schumann's "Gemstones of The World".

Other suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Michael_E]

The GIA booktore http://store.gia.edu/category_s/36.htm has just about any book about gems and jewelry that you can think of. I am partial to Joel Arem's "Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones" which the GIA doesn't stock, but can be found at other online sources. I like this book because it has more decent pictures of all sorts of gems, in one place, than any other book I've seen.

 

[T L]

Also look through old issues of Gems & Gemology for great articles. They are also found on the GIA site.

 

[chrono]

You might be able to get your hands on the quarterly Forecaster newsletter which keeps abreast of the latest gem news around the globe.

 

[deorwine]

My two favorites are much more technical and maybe not so much on the pretty pictures than Wise's book... don't know how interested you are in that.

Gem Identification Made Easy (Matlins)
http://www.amazon.com/Identificatio...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281024406&sr=8-5
This book is totally awesome for, well, what the title says. You don't need much in the way of equipment (you can start out with a loupe, and maybe a couple of other relatively cheap (<$50) tools ... but I read the whole book without any, I was that fascinated). It's very straightforward and isn't technical in the sense of having long physics explanations of things, but I could imagine it could be a little dry if what you were looking for was more like Wise's book. Matlins has several other books, and the others are less technical. They have some overlap so you probably don't need to buy more than one. Gem ID is the meatiest and IMO the best reference book but Colored Gemstones (for example) might be a good fit if you don't really want to concentrate on ID. You might try checking them out from your library first, too.

Then there is the totally awesome Ruby and Sapphire by the legendary Richard Hughes. Now this IS a huge often-technical tome, complete with physics/chemistry, geography, etc. as well as tips on things like what the best quality sapphires/rubies look like, and does have plenty of pretty pictures. Unfortunately this one is expensive and hard to find. I am told he is working on a new edition though??

 

[movie zombie]

that was a good start with the two you already have!

mz

 

[Richard M.]

A lot depends on your personal interests and budget. Many very fine specialized books are available although some "classics" like Richard Hughes's "Ruby & Sapphire" are out of print and very costly when available used. A fine new book on emeralds that's probably destined to become a classic is available but a bit pricey: "Emeralds: A Passionate Guide" by Ronald Ringsrud.

The superb gem series by Extra Lapis is available from Lithographie LLC. These "books" are really beautiful fine quality glossy magazines that cover their subjects exhaustively. They are expensive but excellent in every way with top color images and prominent internationally-recognized authors.

A much more affordable -- and in my opinion very fine -- series of books is published by gemologist and former National Geographic author Fred Ward. Fred has traveled to most gem producing regions of the world and has distilled his great knowledge and superb photographic skills in a series of specialized 4-color books. Each one gives a very knowledgeable overview of the gem in question. More information is available at http://www.fredwardgems.com/

The GIA Bookstore has already been mentioned and it offers books in just about any specialty desired. For those with more technical interests, GIA's professional magazine "Gems & Gemology" is a great resource. No matter which books you choose, the world of gems and gemology offers a never-ending opportunity for study.

Richard M. (Rick Martin)

 

[deorwine]

Thanks Richard! I've been eyeing those Fred Ward books for some time but didn't know if they were good or not. (Usually I try out books from the library before I actually buy them, and they don't have his.) They look lovely... maybe I'll go and get some Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Rae~]

Thank you very much, everyone, for the excellent suggestions. I think I've put them to good use!

I've spent a cpl of hours looking around for some of them and man, some places like completely screwing you on overseas shipping, don't they?!? Ah well.

So far today, I have purchased several back copies of the English Lapis series, and a Lithographie book/booklet on Merelani, Tanzania. Richard M, thank you very much for putting me onto those; I am really looking forward to receiving them.

Then, I signed up for the Forecaster email; thank you for the tip Chrono. I may subscribe to G&G as well.... still deciding. I will certainly take a look at the contents of past issues as well - great tip, thanks TL - for articles on specific gemstones/areas of interest.

I also bought Ronald Ringsrud's book on Emeralds and John Sinkankas' book on gemstones of Nth America. There are a couple of other book suggestions I've got my eye on as well, but my credit card was already screaming at me. Funny how I told myself firmly yesterday that I couldn't spend money on gemstones.... yet today it seems I can spend money on books about gemstones! I justify it as enabling me to make better purchasing decisions in the future and therefore saving money in the end.... that works, right?!?

deorwine - I looked around for Richard Hughes' book on Ruby & Sapphires, and it seems to be out of print, with a message saying he is working on a new edition. I am going to hang fire for a while and see if it comes out... in the meantime I think I'll have plenty of reading to keep me busy!

Oh, and I won't rest until I have all three in the series of "Photoatlas of Inclusions in Gemstones".... wow, those books look great, but $$$$$$ !!!

Always open to further suggestions; as you can probably tell, I like collecting books on subjects that interest me!

 

[Harriet]

I have "Gems", edited by Michael O'Donoghue. It's a compilation of essays on different topics by different authors (thanks, Rick).

I can vouch for Fred Ward's series.

Droolinv over the Koivula series ...

 

[Pandora II]

Don't hold your breath for the new edition of Hughes's Ruby & Sapphire - I've been on the waiting list for nearly 4 years now!

I think Richard Wise said that all the plates got destroyed so a bit of a nightmare doing a reprint. Second-hand copies seem to be around £400 GBP and then some!

Fred Ward series is great, also ditto all Richard's other suggestions. If you're interested in the 'grammar' of gemmology then 'Practical Gemmology' by Robert Webster is brilliant.

There used to be a sticky thread with a list of book recommendations - might be worth doing a search.

 

[T L]

Renee Newman has some decent books on gems. I like the one on rubies, sapphires and emeralds. It really goes into treatment as well.

The Fred Ward series is nice, albeit the books are very thin, but very picture heavy. I love his book on emeralds, in it he has some photos of Elizabeth Taylor wearing her full emerald suite.

 

[Sagebrush]

This is a question that gets asked a lot. Pricescope should probably consider putting together a gemstone bibliography. The field of gemstones is somewhat broad, so the first question is, what do you want to learn about or where do you want to start?

Fred Ward is an ex-National Geo writer and his books read like extended NG articles, broad with lots of travel. There is no single book that is comprehensive in the sense of covering technical gemology, lore, quality in all gemstones varieties, so, which gemstones would you like to study? Were I to recomend a compact library, the individual books would be pricey. Hughes on Ruby & Sapphire, Kunz, Dongan and Strack on pearls, Ringsrud on emerald, nothing really great on either tourmaline or garnet.

Best,

 

[Sagebrush]

All,

Richard Hughes has, on his site, a pretty good bibliography

Best,

 

[kelpie]

The Gem Merchant : How to Be One, How to Deal with One