| Emeralds
by Fred Ward
Gem Book Publishers, Bethesda, MD, revised edition 2001.
Softcover, 6" x 9", color, 64 pages, $14.95.
Reviewed By John S. White.
You think that having achieved near-perfection, Fred Ward would relax a little
and revel in the warm reception that has greeted his wonderful little book, Emeralds.
This is not, however, Fred Ward’s style. Fastidious writer/photographer/editor/publisher
that he is, he has recently revised the earlier edition (1993), upgrading or replacing
photographs with 28 new ones (including the one on the cover), and changing something
on just about every page of the text. This is the first book in his gem series
done with an “all-digital workflow,” a process for which only a few
printers in the U.S. have converted. The color is substantially better, and the
dot pattern is about half as small as it was with film.
It may seem like a minor point, but as a cataloguer of gem and mineral books,
I especially appreciate the fact that Ward clearly identifies newer editions of
his gem book series on their covers. Emeralds is now even better and most decidedly
a must for anyone interested in learning about the best known of the beryl family.
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