Jewelry: From Antiquity to the Present (World of Art)

Rating:
Summary: A good general overview of the subject
Review: This is probably the best general overview one could ask of the subject of jewelry history. Starting around 30,000 BC and ending around 1988, the book (printed 1996) covers a wide variety of styles and eras. It is lavishly illustrated in color and b/w, with excellent detail. Of course, being that it is only 200 pp or so, it's not going to be able to go in depth anywhere, but it still manages to get its points across regarding trends, technology, and sociology and how they all affected jewelry styles.

The halfway point in this book is the Elizabethan era, so the entire latter half of the book falls outside SCA period. Very little indeed covers the period I'm most interested in, Italy of the 15th century. It also seems enamored with the "popular" eras -- little attention is paid to non-European countries once the Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman classic periods are dealt with. However, it's still a fascinating read, and a great introduction to the subject. The bibliography is quite extensive, giving the reader plenty of places to take up additional study.

In summary, I would suggest that any history or costuming enthusiast pick this up.

Rating:
Summary: Glorious Jewels!!
Review: Usually when I buy a book on jewelry, I merely gaze longingly at the pictures. Not so with this book! I read it from cover to cover. It help my interest and provided wonderful pictures along with the history of (mostly) Western jewelry. My only complaint is I wish that ALL the pictures had been in color!