Book excerpt: This comprehensive modern lapidary features gemological, historical, and metaphysical information about forty-six gems. Thousands of beliefs and uses have been collected and chronicled. 115 illustrations enhance this 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 reference. Folklore gathered from numerous cultures is given for each stone. Included is a new translation of Mandeville's fourteenth century Le Lapidaire, and hundreds of quotations from literature. All references to gems in the Bible, the Koran, Shakespeare's plays and poems, and the works of Chaucer, Emerson, Thomas Moore, and Sir Walter Scott are given. A translation of Marbode's eleventh century gem treatise is included, as well as references from Vedic texts. Additional features: crystal shapes and classifying gems, a history of gem literature, and a chapter on birthstones, planetary, and Apostolic stones. Gems in Myth, Legend, and Lore Revised Edition continues a tradition of gem literature spanning over two thousand years.