gems, jade, Mesoamerican jade, Guatemala jade, jadeite, fei cui, Mayan jade, Costa Rica, Fischer-Book

An account of Tschudi’s travels and residence in Peru between 1838 and 1842, combining observations on the country’s geography, natural history, peoples, customs, economy, and political conditions. Drawing on extensive travel from the Pacific coast into the Andes, Tschudi describes Lima, the coastal deserts, mountain communities, Indigenous peoples, agriculture, mining, and the flora and fauna of different ecological zones. The work provides a detailed mid-nineteenth-century European account of Peru and includes observations on its mineral wealth and mining industry.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, nephrite

Reports Schaffhäutl’s chemical analysis of worked nephrite objects, based on material previously discussed in the Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. The notice concerns the composition of fashioned nephrite and its comparison with related mineral substances, contributing to contemporary efforts to determine the true mineralogical nature of jade. It is of particular historical interest as an early chemical investigation of archaeological or manufactured nephrite rather than merely geological specimens. One of the first chemical analyses of nephrite.

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, Mexico

A cornerstone work for any collection on American literature or the historiography of Mexico. It is a magnificent epic," said William H. Prescott after the publication of History of the Conquest of Mexico in 1843. Since then, his sweeping account of Cortés's subjugation of the Aztec people has endured as a landmark work of scholarship and dramatic storytelling. This pioneering study presents a compelling view of the clash of civilizations that reverberates in Latin America to this day. "Regarded simply from the standpoint of literary criticism, the Conquest of Mexico is Prescott's masterpiece," judged his biographer Harry Thurston Peck. "More than that, it is one of the most brilliant examples which the English language possesses of literary art applied to historical narration… Here, as nowhere else, has Prescott succeeded in delineating character. All the chief actors of his great historic drama not only live and breathe, but they are as distinctly differentiated as they must have been in life. Cortés and his lieutenants are persons whom we actually come to know in the pages of Prescott… Over against these brilliant figures stands the melancholy form of Montezuma, around whom, even from the first, one feels gathering the darkness of his coming fate. He reminds one of some hero of Greek tragedy, doomed to destruction and intensely conscious of it, yet striving in vain against the decree of an inexorable destiny… [Prescott] transmuted the acquisitions of laborious research into an enduring monument of pure literature.""

gems, jade, Fischer-Book

A German translation of John Pickering’s study of the Indigenous languages of the Americas, examining their classification, geographical distribution, relationships, and distinctive linguistic features. Pickering considers the diversity of Native American languages and the evidence they provide for relationships among the peoples of North and South America, drawing upon vocabularies and earlier linguistic and ethnographic sources. The work forms part of the early nineteenth-century development of comparative American linguistics and ethnology.

gems, India, jade, nephrite

Surveys the mineral resources of southern India, describing the occurrence, geological setting, working, and economic importance of a wide range of ores and minerals.

gems, jade, pyroxene jade, jadeite, fei cui, omphacite, kosmochlor, Mesoamerica, Guatemala, Olmec, Maya, Mexico, Fischer-Book

A two-volume account of Stephens’s travels through Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatán, with illustrations by Frederick Catherwood. The work describes the geography, peoples, politics, customs, and antiquities encountered during the journey and is particularly important for its detailed accounts of Maya archaeological sites, including Copán, Quiriguá, Palenque, and Uxmal. Stephens records monumental architecture, sculpture, inscriptions, and artifacts, while Catherwood’s illustrations provided some of the earliest accurate published representations of Maya remains. The work played a major role in bringing the ancient Maya civilization to international attention.

general gemology, gems, jade, Fischer-Book

Sinkankas: The first monograph on gemstones published in the United States and an excellent one at that. In the testimonial letter, James Renwick (1792–1863), LLD, professor of chemistry & physics in Columbia College, noted that “in reference to the native minerals and rocks of the United States, that I conceive your treatise to be most likely to be eminently useful.” In his Gems and Precious Stones of North America, the eventual successor to Feuchtwanger, published in 1890, G.F. Kunz notes that “Dr. Lewis Feuchtwanger, of New York, was, in 1838, an authority on precious stones, and his book was one of the first to be written on the subject in the United States. During his long residence in this country, he made an interesting and valuable collection of minerals, fossils, and gems, many of the latter being fine specimens, but it has not been sold, and is in the possession of his daughters. Moving has greatly damaged this collection, which originally included nearly 900 specimens; it was placed on sale in 1874, and for a time was deposited in the American Museum of Natural History in New York” (p. 322). In regard to the priority of Feuchtwanger’s book, I have not found any published earlier and unlike Kunz, conclude that it is the first. The text begins with general gemology: properties, chemistry, geology, geographical distribution, enhancement of color, gem setting, cleaning of gems, imitations, commerce, and gems used in optical applications. The second part considers individual gemstones and ornamental materials beginning with the diamond and working through the major and minor species into such rarities as natrolite, apatite, pyrite, and numerous ornamental stones. Feuchtwanger took special care to record as much information as he could find on native gemstones and the localities that furnished them, and while some localities were previously recorded by Samuel Robinson in his Catalogue of American Minerals, 1825, these were treated very briefly and without amplifying details such as characterizes Feuchtwanger’s treatment. Another “first” of the present work is the extended description of pearls, artificial pearls, and corals, but nothing was said about the freshwater pearls of the United States which apparently were largely unknown at the time. As alluded to in Renwick’s letter, Feuchtwanger’s writing sometimes borders on the quaint, but all of it is easily followed and forms much pleasant as well as informative reading. Very rare.

gems, jade, Central Asia, Russia, Fischer-Book

Schuh: Rare. In 1829, Rose along with C.G. Ehrenberg [see note below] was choosen to accompany Humboldt on a scientific journey commissioned by the Russian Czar to the Urals, the Altai, and the Caspian Sea. This venture took him from Europe to as far as the China frontier. The Mineralogisch-geognostische Reise chronicles the journey and includes many observations on geology, mineralogy, and mineral resources of the regions traversed. Since its publication, it has been widely quoted as an authoritative source about these matters. Volume one concerns the northern Urals and the Altai, while volume two describes the excursions through the southern Urals and the Caspian sea, reviewing in particular the minerals and geology of the Ural mountains.

gems, jade, Fischer-Book, specific gravity

Reports new determinations of the specific gravities of numerous minerals and other substances, including several for which such measurements had not previously been available. Breithaupt gives density values for a wide range of mineral species and varieties, among them opal, garnet, rutile, amphibole (nephrite), pyroxene, barite, carbonates, sulphides and arsenides, emphasizing specific gravity as an important diagnostic physical property in mineral identification and classification. The paper is also historically significant for introducing the name “chloritoid,” which Breithaupt applied to a mineral previously described by Fiedler.