corundum, history.1, gems

Sinkankas: The translation is generally conceded to be superior to Holland’s and is further enriched by abundant, discerning, and helpful footnotes. This edition was kept in print in various bindings as late as 1893, with full sets dated from 1856 to 1893. Primarily of interest to the gemologist are pages 305–85 and 386–468, which treat building stones and gemstones, respectively, in the sixth volume (Books XXXVI and XXXVII). The first book deals with building stones and other matters, sometimes classed with gemstones, while gemstones proper are fully treated in the last book, the contents of which are analyzed and explained in detail by Sidney Henry Ball in his A Roman Book on Precious Stones (1950), which see. However, Ball’s work is based on the Holland translation rather than the present one, and the reader desiring to explore more fully the material presented in Pliny’s gemological dissertations should compare both. Here, as in his other books, Pliny accumulated all he could find about the nature, sources, attributes, and uses of gemstones, with data and tales ranging from fabulous anecdotes and superstitions to the cold, hard facts of science. It is also here that one finds the curious names for many gemstones, borrowed more or less from earlier writers and repeated by writers after Pliny well into the seventeenth century. The legacy of such names in the post-Plinian lapidaries is usefully discussed by Frank Dawson Adams in his Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938, pp. 143ff), who also attempts to group and correlate the names with known gemstones or other mineral and non-mineral substances classed as gemstones by earlier writers. The problem of such identification is also addressed by Dorothy Wyckoff in her Albertus Magnus: Book of Minerals (1967, esp. pp. 286–92), which see. Neither Philemon Holland nor John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley were trained in the earth sciences, and for this reason the interpretations of gemstones and minerals provided by them should be compared to those of Ball, Adams, and Wyckoff, all trained in the earth sciences. See also the commentaries in Rackham’s edition of Pliny in a later English translation below.

corundum, Thailand.12, gems

Pallegoix’s Description du Royaume Thai ou Siam is a wide-ranging account of Siam by the French missionary Jean-Baptiste Pallegoix, covering its geography, population, government, religion, customs, commerce, agriculture, and natural products. Drawing on his long residence in the country and knowledge of the Thai language, Pallegoix provides one of the more substantial European descriptions of mid-nineteenth-century Siam. Of particular gemological interest, pp. 117–121 treat the kingdom’s mineral resources and precious stones, including accounts of gemstones obtained in Siam and the localities or regions associated with them. These passages are useful early evidence for European knowledge of the Siamese gem trade and mineral resources before the major development of the ruby and sapphire deposits of eastern Siam later in the nineteenth century.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

This substantially revised edition of William Phillips’s classic mineralogical textbook presents a systematic introduction to mineralogy based principally on crystallographic form, physical properties, chemical composition, and geological occurrence. Revised and enlarged by Henry James Brooke and William Hallowes Miller, it incorporates the major advances in crystallography and mineral chemistry made since Phillips’s earlier editions, with Miller’s crystallographic expertise giving the work particular scientific importance. Individual mineral species are described with their characteristic crystal forms, cleavage, hardness, specific gravity, lustre, colour, composition, localities, and varieties, including numerous minerals of gemological interest such as diamond, corundum (ruby and sapphire), spinel, beryl (emerald), topaz, tourmaline, garnet, quartz, zircon, and feldspar. The volume provides a useful mid-nineteenth-century record of mineral classification and nomenclature at a period when crystallography and chemical analysis were becoming firmly established as the foundations of systematic mineralogy.

gems, China, history of gems

The first complete European translation of the Zhouli (Rites of Zhou), one of the major classical Chinese texts concerning the organization and institutions of the Zhou state. Biot’s two-volume French translation describes an elaborate administrative system, including government offices, court ceremonies, crafts, commerce, taxation, ritual, and the management of natural resources. Of particular gemological interest are numerous references to jade and other valued stones, their classification, working, official control, ritual functions, and prescribed use in insignia, ceremonial objects, and ornaments, making the work an important source for understanding the institutional and symbolic role of jade in ancient China.

gems, minerals, history of gemology, talismans, rings, jewelry, garnet

Sinkankas: A charming melange of interesting facts, fancies, and anecdotes, in popular style, using the device of letters to an unnamed lady, and treating most of the mineral productions of importance, but with major emphasis laid upon gemstones. The latter, mineral and organic, are to be found in letters 1 to 17, 20, and in 32, with letter 35 treating talismans, hieroglyphic rings, and the stones that used in them. The appendix contains an identification table for minerals, arranged according to distinctive properties. An excellent work that provides instructive reading, although copies are now rarely obtainable.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, mineralogy, early mineralogy

A comprehensive mineralogical handbook presenting Breithaupt’s classification and description of minerals according to their physical properties, crystallography, composition, and occurrence. The work reflects the mid-nineteenth-century development of systematic mineralogy and provides descriptions of numerous mineral species and varieties, including many materials of gemological interest. It is particularly useful for tracing historical mineral names, classifications, physical-property data, and the changing distinction between mineral species and ornamental stones.

corundum, ruby, Afghanistan.12, gems

A substantial account of the geology and mineralogy of Afghanistan, describing its mountain ranges, rock formations, mineral occurrences, and economically important deposits. Hutton draws upon observations and information gathered in the region to discuss metals, ores, salts, coal, and precious and ornamental stones. Of particular gemological interest are his descriptions of Afghanistan’s and neighboring Badakhshan’s gem resources, including lapis lazuli and the celebrated ruby spinel deposits, making the paper an important early geological account of the mineral resources of the region.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A major nineteenth-century encyclopedia of classical antiquity, arranged alphabetically and covering the history, geography, religion, mythology, literature, institutions, material culture, and daily life of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. Edited by August Friedrich Pauly, it brought together detailed scholarly articles based on ancient literary sources and contemporary classical research. Of gemological interest are entries relating to precious stones, minerals, jewelry, engraved gems, mining, and the terminology and uses of such materials in antiquity.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Examines the geological structure of the Trans-Ural region of northern Asia in relation to its extensive gold deposits. Erman discusses the mountain systems, rock formations, alluvial deposits, and geological circumstances associated with the occurrence of gold, drawing on observations made during his travels across Siberia. Of particular gemological interest are pp. 154–155, where he discusses gemstones occurring in association with the gold-bearing deposits, including their localities and geological setting.

corundum, History.1, gems

An English translation of selected portions of al-Masʿūdī’s tenth-century historical and geographical work Murūj al-dhahab wa-maʿādin al-jawhar (Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems). The work ranges widely over history, geography, peoples, religions, natural history, trade, and the marvels of different regions of the known world, drawing upon both written authorities and al-Masʿūdī’s extensive travels. Of particular interest to gemology are references to mines, precious metals, pearls, gemstones, their geographic sources, and the commerce through which valuable materials circulated between India, the Middle East, Africa, and the Mediterranean world.