mineral

Despite dying at only 28, Edward M. Haight (1863-1891) established a busy career as an enthusiastic naturalist, collector, taxidermist, and publisher. The Golden State Scientist is one of three serials that he edited in the late 1880s, and it is by far the scarcest. This was the only issue ever published, and only 450 copies made it into print, owing to “the many blunders made in the advertisements." Only about a dozen copies survive in libraries today.

Searching for a book on the history of metals? Then look no further than John Wadsworth William Sullivan’s The Story of Metals. Published in 1951 by the American Society of Metals as part of the Series for Self-Education, The Story of Metals offers an accessible glimpse into the evolution of the use of metals from mining to metallurgy and minting.

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.

David Rickard gives gold’s poor relation the royal treatment in this scholarly work on the mineral pyrite. Rickard presents both the social uses of pyrite—from historical accounts—and the scientific nature of the mineral. Whether a scientist is researching the history of an older piece of metalwork or the chemical properties of the raw material, Rickard’s work is useful for the scholar and layman alike. This nicely illustrated book is from the Minerals Library at the National Museum of Natural History.

“It just seemed like a natural and harmless thing to do at the time” states author Bob Jones regarding the formation of the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society in 1946. The ‘rockhounds’ who formed the group could not have anticipated that their organization would go on to create the world’s largest and most renowned gem and mineral show, frequented by scientists and scholars, dealers and vendors, artists and jewelers, and students and families alike.