Here’s one for all you September babies, though you won’t be able to get your hot little hands on it until Oct. 26. It’s Thames & Hudson’s “Sapphire: A Celebration of Color” – of the September birthstone, from the folks who gave you “Emerald,” now unavailable, and “Ruby,” which we love to salivate over as we are a July baby. (For the record, a ruby is a kind of sapphire. Who knew?)
Gemologist and jewelry historian Joanna Hardy charts the versatile gem’s history from the early trading routes along the Silk Road to the Middle Ages to the modern jewelry collections of the usual celebrated subjects – among them, Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II and Diana, Princess of Wales, whose Ceylon sapphire engagement ring now graces the hand of her daughter-in-law, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. The boldface names are met by the big-name jewelry houses, including Boucheron, Cartier, Chaumet, Van Cleef & Arpels and Harry Winston, while the reader is introduced to the work of 21st-century designers
Lauren Adriana, Bina Goenka, Hemmerle, Shaun Leane and Mish. You’ll also learn what to look for in a quality sapphire.
Now if only the book came with one….
For more, visit thamesandhudsonusa.com.
