gems, corundum, Ceylon.12, Sri Lanka.12

A posthumous collection of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s writings on the geology and mineralogy of Ceylon, bringing together his scientific papers, official reports, and related comments from the period when he served as Director of the Mineralogical Survey of Ceylon. The volume documents his geological and mineralogical investigations of the island, including studies of rocks, minerals, ore deposits, and economically important mineral resources, and reprints his Ceylon Administrative Reports for 1903–1906. Of particular gemological interest are his observations on Ceylon’s gem deposits and gem-mining industry, including the occurrence, recovery, and distribution of precious stones. The collection preserves the early scientific work of Coomaraswamy before his subsequent career as an influential historian of Indian and Asian art and provides an important contemporary source for the geology, mineralogy, and gemology of early twentieth-century Ceylon.