Kunz and Stevenson (8 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Binding is light blue cloth with gold lettering and decoration on front cover and spine. Spine has been rebound with original covers reattached. Binding is sturdy and solid but edges are rubbed and corners bumped. 548 pages including index. Interior is clean with no markings. Front and back end pages are slightly browned. Many, many photographs. Folding plate of peals on black background, following page 332. Many other folding plates as well. 5 maps, 107 plates and photographs, some with tissue guards. Pages are clean and with no markings, lightly browned.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. xix, 548 pages with many b/w and colour plates (missing the colour frontispice plate of Czarina Catherin. xix, 548 pages. Tourmaline / turquoise cloth cover with gilt stamping.Dedicated by the author George Kunz to A.W. Feaveryear, dated Nov 30, 1908.

Condition: Normal. Editorial Dover Publications. Tapa blanda. 23cm. Cubierta deslucida. Ilustrado Normal.

Boards. 1st edition. 1st UK edition, quarto, original white buckram cloth with gilt decoration, col frontis with tissue guard, many plates (some in colour), maps, pp xix, 548. Very slightly darkened to edges of boards, minor foxing to endpapers, otherwise clean and in near-fine condition. First edition, first issue of the London edition. (Very heavy, please inquire regarding postage.) Important work on the history of the pearl and the pearling industry, lavishly illustrated. Includes section on the pearl fisheries of Australia (mainly Western Australia) as well as the pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf. Scarce, especially in the London edition. (another edition published in New York the same year was issued in turqoise cloth boards).

A finely produced publication dedicated to the magic of the pearl, rarely found in such lovely original condition. Published in New York in 1908, this work is a splendid example of fine book production. Amongst much of interest, there is a long chapter on the Australian pearling industry: "As regards areas of distribution the most extensive pearl-oyster grounds of the world are situated on the northern and western coasts of Australia" the nude divers in the Australian pearl fisheries are mostly Malays and Australian aborigines." (Chapter IX). Large octavo, colour frontispiece and numerous black & white and coloured plates throughout; a very good copy in the original gilt-decorated cloth.

pp. xx, 548. Coloured frontis and 16 coloured plates all with tissue guards, a further 85 black and white plates. Royal 8vo. Cream cloth with gilt decoration, spine slightly dulled, top edge gilt. The Bibliography and Index partly unopened.

KUNZ, GEORGE F. & CHARLES H. STEVENSON. The Book of The Pearl: The History of, Art, Science, and Industry of the Queen of Gems. NY: The Century Co., 1908. Thick 4to, handsomely bound in gilt-ruled full crimson morocco, top edge gilt, untrimmed pp., 548 pp., profusely illustrated with b&w and color plates, gift inscription to previous owner on front blank page, fine copy except for two leaves (4 pages) that have a large wrinkle, and another page that has a 3" tear in outer margin (both shown in photos).

The book of the pearl by Georg Frederick Kunz (1856-1932) is one of the highlights of American gemmology from the beginning of the twentieth century. Richly illustrated with plates from various sources, some in colour, this is the presentation copy, inscribed by the author himself: 'To Miss Julia Halsey Munson, with the compliments of the senior author George F. Kunz New York July 10 1913'.Kunz drew heavily on his encyclopaedic knowledge of gems for this book. The book of the pearl presents the history of pearls from ancient China to the author's present day. Kunz describes the historical and current practices of pearl harvesting and how pearls are processed into jewellery and cult objects. Kunz devotes much space to the region that he describes as 'the pearling center of the world' (p. 140): the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. There lay the origins of pearl fishing in the Persian Gulf and Kunz describes the mastery of pearl fishers and pearl cutters of the region and the rich collections of pearls of Arab Shahs and princesses. He illustrates all of this through detailed maps. The text covers all aspects of ancient and modern knowledge of pearls, including the formation of pearls and the natural history of fresh- and saltwater pearls. John Sinkankis in his bibliography on gemmology praised the book as '[a] beautiful example of modern book design, executed in high quality materials [] prized not only for the enormous amount of reliable information that it contains, indeed still unmatched in any work since, but also for the large number of high quality illustrations in black and white'.Georg Frederick Kunz was one of the United States' earliest gem experts. Born into a Swiss immigrant family in New York, he was primarily raised in New Jersey where he developed an early interest in minerals. He began collecting his first specimens by the age of 14. He had amassed a collection of approximately 4,000 stones only six years later. Kunz was a self-taught expert and his knowledge was second to none. He applied his knowledge as a gem expert for Tiffany & Company at the age of 23. He remained with Tiffany for 53 consecutive years, eventually becoming the company's vice president. During his career at Tiffany's, Kunz also became a prolific author. He is credited with a legacy of important books on gemstones. Kunz was also one of the founders of the New York Mineralogical Club, a Secretary of American Society of Arts and Sciences, an Honorary Curator of Precious Stones at the American Museum of Natural History, and a Curator for the New York Academy of Sciences. The pink gem variety of spodumene was named kunzite in his honour in 1903.Very good condition, only very slight wear to very slight wear to extremities, all plates included and intact, no browning or foxing.l Sinkankas 3690. Bound for presentation in light olive-brown goatskin morocco by The Atelier Bindery, New York (stamp on free endleaf), sewn on 5 supports, gold-tooled spine (title and author in 2nd & 3rd of 6 compartments, others with decorations), gold fillets on the boards and board edges, gold-tooled turn-ins, light brown watered silk endleaves, top edge gilt. With a signed autograph presentation inscription from the "senior author" to the Tiffany's jeweller Julia Halsey Munson, signed "George F. Kunz", New York 10 July 1913. With a colour halftone frontispiece portrait of the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna Alix (1868-1918), wearing her pearls (she, the Romanov last Czar Nikolai II and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks ten years after publication), 99 other plates (2 folding) including 17 in colour, mostly halftone photographs, but including 1 lithographic(?) reproduction of a 1743 engraving of Maria Theresia of Austria (facing p. 24, with a plate impression) and 2 collotypes(?) (facing pp. 416, 472). Further with 10 line illustrations on the integral leaves (including 4 maps), many full-page. The colour plates, lithograph and collotypes are p.