The Book Of The Pearl, The History, Art, Science, And Industry Of The Queen Of Gems by George Frederick Kunz, 1908. London. Excellent and authoritative review of pearls in jewelry in history and folklore by the former vice-president of Tiffany…
A popular treatise on gems : in reference to their scientific value : a guide for the teacher of natural sciences, the jeweller, and amateur : together with a description of the elements of mineralogy, and all ornamental and architectural materials,…
This book is an essential for anyone interested in chasing and repousse designs and details.
This 173 page 1881 book is intended for silversmiths to work from as well as to educate the public. The images are of electroformed reproductions of…
A practical treatise of vexatious repairs that come to the watchmaker are those on repeating watches. Not every watchmaker can make them, and that is just why they are profitable.
For those unfamiliar with repeating watches they were intended…
This 1895 book is very good. It describes the issues and techniques used in hard (and to some degree in soft) soldering. It is 74 pages of distilled, bright information.
There are a number of mouth driven blowpipe torches described using various…
The Mineral Kingdom, 1903 (original German edition), by Dr. Reinhard Brauns (1867-1937) 445 pages + 177 Color plates Dr. Reinhard Brauns was born on August 20, 1867 in Eiterfeld near Kassel, Germany. Reinhard published numerous contributions…
This beautiful volume takes readers on a very special tour of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, highlighting wonderful pieces of jewelry from ancient and modern cultures in every part of the world. Of special interest are the fabulous objects…
Sheet-Metal Worker’s Guide
A practical handbook for tinsmiths, coppersmiths, zincworkers
Comprising numerous geometrical diagrams and working patterns, with descriptive text
By W. J. E. Ceane
(Author of “The Smithy and Forge”)
This…
This unique manuscript was commissioned in 1552 by Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria, the founder of what is today the Bavarian State Library. The manuscript is an inventory of the jewelry owned by the duke and his wife, Duchess Anna, a member of the…
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR THE HOROLOGIST, JEWELER, GOLD AND SILVERSMITH
“Containing hundreds of private receipts and forlumas compiled from the mest and most reliable sources. Complete directions for using all the latest tools, attachements…
This 1912 book is one of the foundational books for gemology. At 364 information packed pages this is worth its weight in gold, or gemstones. An essential read for all gemologists, and goldsmiths, jewelry store staff etc. It lays out the principles…
Practical Instructions From A Practical Manufacturing Jeweler.
This 1914 book is composed of articles drawn from the Magazine “The Manufacturing Jeweler”. At 240 pages of eclectic, informative articles it is a treasury of jewelers secrets…
A Manual for the Electroplater, giving Modern Methods of Polishing, Plating, Buffing, Oxidizing and Lacquering Metals, for the Progressive Workman.
This 1902 book is a huge volume, 358 pages of solid information (this edition was published…
A practical handbook dealing with certain elementary methods of design and construction written for the use of craftsmen, designers, students and teachers.
This 1910 book is a hefty 300 pages packed with great information on jewelry history…
This 1914 book is a very important early book on enameling. It is 65 pages of good, solid information. The first edition was in 1900, this version was published in 1914. It has excellent, thorough detail on enameling and making enamels, interesting…
An illustrated text book for teachers and students in the manual arts
By Augustus F. Rose
This is a 1908 book by one of North America’s really important metals writers at the beginning of the 20th century. He was an educator, writer, influential…
This 1904 book is 141 pages packed with serious information for metal workers. It covers basics like chiseling metals, filing, scraping and construction with thoroughness not seen in contemporary books and sources. It has a section on basic…
This 1907 book is 155 pages jammed full of information not found anywhere else in the same way. This third edition seriously updates previous editions of the book as discoveries were being made at the time.
The aim of the book was to provide practical…
This 1913 book does a very good job of describing gem materials, sources, rules, working methods and evaluation criteria. It is 117 readable, interesting pages. The author’s goal was not for it to be the authoritative book but rather to have…
A Manual of Electro-Metallurgy:
Including:
The Applications of the Art to Manufacturing
By James Napier, F.C.S.
This remarkable early 1860 book (written over 160 years ago!) is 179 pages of solid, interesting information. It is remarkable…
This is a 62 page book written and published in 1884. Chapters include:
Utensils and Chemicals, Alloys for Hard Soldering, Structure of the flame, Heat, the Process of soldering, and technical notes and tables.
This is a marvelous overview…
This third edition, published in 1912, is 495 thorough, dense, worthwhile pages of metallurgical and alloy information, almost all of it completely accurate today. The first edition was published in 1890. It begins with an excellent history…
This 1885 book (republished in 1921) was written by George Gee, a real hero of the trade for decades, a pioneer in writing for the jeweler, the goldsmith and silversmith. You can tell that the author ran an excellent working shop – the voice of…
This 1918 book covers the gilding and silvering of wood and other materials using silver and gold leaf, chemical gilding of metals, the gilding and silvering of metal and glass as well as an excellent section on metal coloring and patination…
The 1899, 117 page book is intended for the amateur, the learner. As with many books of this time it begins with a history, placing engraving in a context, and the Old Testament, proving the ancient origins of the technique and its uses. Egypt…
(subtitled “Being the Art of Ornamenting Thin Metal with Raised Figures”)
Another book essential for the serious chaser! This one concentrates on details of chasing, tools, working methods. Includes a number of metal working techniques…
A series of Twenty-four autotype reproductions of original designs for vases, ewers, salvers, etc. Selected from the collection in the national art library, South Kensington Museum
This significant 1871 book has wonderful drawn (etchings)…
This 1902 book is the third edition. It is 98 jam packed pages of great chasing and repousse information. The author taught many people (including royalty) to do repousse and chasing as a hobby pastime, a recreation. It is clear that at the turn…
This 1883 book is intended for the jewelry store owner and staff, and for interested amateurs, and pointedly, for the consumer. This seemed to be a new approach for that era. Redman consulted with the top authors of his time (many of them represented…
I’ve always loved this 1916 book. It informed me at the start of my career and taught me much about the workshop, making chasing tools and more. The book is completely full of excellent drawings, wonderful pen and ink sketches, first of tools,…
A Complete Exposition of the Art of Engraving on Metals.
If you want to learn how to engrave letters, monograms and writing this great book is an excellent guide. This 1892 book addresses what was then a decline in the education of apprentices,…
A wonderful 1902 book full of jeweler’s secrets and repair techniques. Chapters include bench design, tools, chemicals, tables and recipes, how to use gold testing acids, making rings, eyeglass frame repair, jewelry repair and, oddly,…
This rare book first published in 1905 gives a good explanation and introduction to electroplating, with extensive chapters on polishing and finishing work for plating. There are numerous recipes throughout the text and the writer’s ‘Voice’…
This 1911 book is a great introduction to enameling, and discussion of definitions and techniques of various kinds of enameling. There is insight into how enamels were prepared and delivered, as chunks or large ‘plates’ that the enamellist…
This antique book on enameling gives a clear window into enameling in the 19th century and the debates on legitimizing craft work as fine art equal to painting, sculpture etc in importance and vitality. This book provides a unique philosophical…
This is a book of bench tricks, recipes and tricks written in 1892 compiled and published by the Hazlitt company in Chicago. Called ‘A workshop companion’ it is full of rare, forgotten recipes and arcane jeweler’s knowledge. The front page…
Subitile: “An Introduction to the preparation and application of all kinds of enamels for technical and artistic purposes. For enamel makers, workers in gold and silver and manufacturers of objects of art”
This 1912 book, 206 pages jam-packed…
This 1871 book was compiled from the in-house notes of “one of the largest and most eminent Manufacturing Goldsmiths and Jewellers in this country” which had gone out of business, thus freeing Mr. Collins to reveal the companie’s secrets and…
“An account of all the different assay towns of the United Kingdom, with the stamps at present employed and also the laws related to the standards and hall marks at the various assay offices and a variety of practical suggestions concerning…
Published in 1894. This heavily illustrated book, many photographs and line drawings which cover chasing and repousse in depth and with subtlety. The hundreds of excellent line drawings of tools, stamps, and more are excellent. The tool…
The subtitle of this book is “Chasing and Repousse for Home Art Workers”. It was published in 1903. This book deals mostly with chasing and repousse information. Really great engravings and drawings to show tools, exercises and pieces. One…
This 1916 book (republished in 1921) teaches the core skills of soft and hard soldering (brazing) and introduces basic principles of welding metals. It is a book derived from many articles by different authors in the magazine ‘Work’, an illustrated…
Subtitled: “A manual for the use of Watchmakers, jewelers and Other Metal Engravers”.
This 182 page book, published in 1898, covers letter engraving in exhaustive and thorough detail. If you are learning engraving this is another essential…
This 1899 book is one of the most important early books on enameling. It is quoted and cited by all its contemporary books and many later books. At 168 pages it is a remarkable book very important for any person interested in enameling. The technical…
This book, originally published in England in 1913 covers repousse, fine chasing, silversmithing, jewellery and enamelling. It is part of Longman’s technical handicraft series of books. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement it details…
This 1899 (republished 1905) book outlines the knowledge at the time of gems and precious stones. It is surprisingly accurate and most is still current. It is a completely revised version of the 1882 book “Handbook of Precious Stones”. It covers…