Pearls: A Natural History (Hardcover)

by Neil H. Landman (Author), Paula Mikkelsen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
From Leonardo da Vinci's recipe for imitation pearls to the derring-do of deep-sea pearl divers, Pearls: A Natural History delves into virtually every aspect of the gemstones that have been prized since ancient times for their luster and purity. The fascination of this book--which accompanies an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York through April 14, 2002--is the way it effortlessly combines scientific, historical, cultural, and practical information. Key topics include different species of marine and freshwater mollusks, the history of perliculture and ecological issues affecting pearl production. The more than 200 photographs include reproductions of spectacular objects ranging from a 16th-century Russian icon of the Madonna and child encrusted in freshwater pearls to an early-20th-century brooch in which lozenge-shaped Mississippi River pearls create the opulent blossoms of a diamond-stemmed flower. Solid information, intriguing trivia, and inviting design give this book a broad appeal. --Cathy Curtis

From Publishers Weekly
Accompanying a traveling exhibit from the American Museum of Natural History, Pearls: A Natural History by Neil H. Landman, Paula M. Mikkelsen, Ridiger Bieler and Bennet Bronson presents these gems in all their natural luster and social value. Jewelry and ornaments from 19th-century India, the antebellum U.S. (a photo of Mary Todd Lincoln in her inaugural jewels), 15th-century Korea, 14th-century England and seventh-century Byzantium appear alongside images of the international pearl industry. Along with selecting 225 photos (150 in color), the authors explain both "perliculture" and the harvesting of naturally occurring specimens, the biology of the mollusks that produce them and the history of pearls in human society. Gem aficionados will be taken with the book's range of size, shape and color of these ever-popular jewels.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; 1 edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810944952
• ISBN-13: 978-0810944954
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #337,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #36 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Aquaculture
  #67 in	Books > Outdoors & Nature > Natural Resources > Fisheries & Aquaculture

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pearls before swine..., February 7, 2002

By	sue pitkin (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This truly is a history book, written in a very accessable style with lots of great photos and illustrations. If there's anything else to know about pearls then I suspect it might just about fill up the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. A great resource for amateurs and professionals alike; I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's well worth the money.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars contains everything you could want to know, March 22, 2002

By	Victoria Welch (Oxford University, England) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent, well illustrated book with everything you could want to know about pearls - how they occur naturally, the biology of this, how they are induced artificially ( cultured pearls), how they are faked, the optics of their appearance and how they have shaped history and , of course, pearl jewellery.

The hard bits are explained without jargon, in intelligeable words but without losing detail.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Most excellent information, but..., May 25, 2003

By	Carolle (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This book is quite thorough, as mentioned in the other reviews. The "but" is major, though.... The type font is VERY DIFFICULT on the eyes. I absolutely love pearls, drool over them, even. I gobble up any information on them. If the GIA offers a specialization in them, I will get it. But the lines in this font are so thin, and the size is so tight and small, I haven't been able to finish a fourth of the book, and I've had it over a year!

Every time I try to read it, I have to put it down after only a few pages. By the way, my vision is great, corrected to better than 20/20. Perhaps my copy (bought at the Metropolitan Museum of Art store) was printed when the ink source was running low...