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This is an illustrated catalogue of the Russian crown jewels, published by the Soviet Union’s People’s Commissariat of Finance, after the Russian Revolution removed the Tsar and his family from the throne. It is believed to be the only complete record of the Romanov dynasty’s treasures before their dispersal through private sale and a subsequent auction. The work was published as a limited-edition portfolio consisting of 100 photographic plates (often life-sized) and four sections of text, with only a dozen copies currently known in North America.

Author John Mawe, a dealer and expert in gems and minerals, was the first to reveal the full range of Brazil’s mineral wealth, which the Portuguese government kept closed to Europeans. Briefly detained as a spy in Montevideo, he reached Brazil and was given access to the inland mining districts, including Minas Geraes. There he recorded the localities, processes, and tools of the industry, along with a great deal of general information about the land and people of Brazil. His book was a bestseller, ultimately published in many editions and translations.

"The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. I tend to see it as a glorious intense victory over death," writes art historian Rudi Fuchs in this creative guide to the making of British artist Damien Hirst’s sculpture For the Love of God, a platinum cast of an 18th-century skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds and produced at a cost of £14 million. The catalog is a companion publication to the 2007 exhibition “Damien Hirst: Beyond Belief,” at London’s White Cube, where the skull made its debut.