Book excerpt: This comprehensive modern lapidary features gemological, historical & metaphysical information about forty-six gems. Thousands of beliefs & uses have been collected & chronicled. 92 color photos & 115 illustrations enhance this 8 1/2"x11" reference. Folklore gathered from numerous cultures is given for each stone. Included is a new translation of Mandeville's fourteenth century Le Lapidaire & hundreds of quotations from literature. All references to gems in the Bible, Shakespeare's plays & poems & the works of Chaucer, Emerson, Thomas Moore & Sir Walter Scott are given. A translation of Marbode's eleventh century gem treatise is included, as well as references from Vedic texts. Toadstone, crab's eye, bezoar & thirty-one other mythical gems are described. Additional features: crystal shapes & classifying gems, a history of gem literature & a chapter on birthstones, planetary & Apostolic stones, Gems in Myth, Legend & Lore continues a tradition of gem literature spanning over two thousand years. Contact: Jewelers Press, Box 103, Eastlake, CO 80614; 303-452-7764.