Lapidary & Collection Curation Books
So what do you do with these rocks and minerals when you get them home? Pretty much the options are to store them, display them or make them into something.
All the lapidary books I have in my collection are vintage books, which can make locating them a challenge for the collector, but I have yet to find a modern book on the subject that matches what can be found in these old publications.
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Collection Curation
Title: The Complete Book of Micromounting by Quintin Wight
ASIN: B0007E4RPS
Review: This such a remarkable book, I don’t really know where to start with it. If you don’t know what Micromounting is, it is the process of taking small rocks and minerals and preserving them in small boxes for storage, preservation, and viewing under a microscope. This is widely considered to be the most valuable book on the subject, and no micromounters shelf is complete without it. This book covers ever single aspect of it, from how it all started in the 1700s to every single technique used in the hobby. If you love tiny rocks and minerals, then you will love this book.
Title: The Complete Guide To Micromounts by Milton L Speckels
ASIN: B0007E4RPS
Review: I honestly didn’t know what section this review and book listing should be in when I sat down to write it, since the process of micromounting a mineral is more of a niche hobby within the world of rock and mineral collection and not really a specific rocks and mineral book. Micromounting is the study and collection of mineral specimens that require magnification to be appreciated. The available literature on the subject of micromounting is really limited, you have this book and one other one, which is very pricey. Despite being 57 years old at this point, the book still holds a great deal of very useful information on the subject, and the processes laid out in it are still in use to this day. If you’re at all interested in the world of tiny minerals, I would highly recommend you add this title to your collection.
Title: The Complete Guide to Rocks, Gems & Minerals by Hans Tanner (1970)
ASIN: B001AZV2UG
Review: The cover shown here is the slightly less common hardback cover, but what you might find when searching for this title is a pink paperback cover. While this book covers a number of subjects, such as the Five Digit System and a few other random subjects, I’m including it here solely for its chapter on micromounting due to the lack of available high-quality information on the subject. If you have an interest in the hobby of micromounting minerals, and you’re unable to find the other two books listed above on the subject, this might be a more available option for that covers all the major aspects of mounting.
Lapidary
Title: A Checklist of Cabochon Gem Materials and Their Lapidary Features by J. Lester Cunningham (1965)
ASIN: B0007HED6I
Review: While this book might not be very relevant in today’s age, I think at the time it was written in 1954, the descriptions of different rocks and the attempt to categorize them was rather helpful. It also provides some interesting insight into polishing, which I found to be helpful, and gives advice on how to polish different materials.
Title: Gem Cutting Shop Help The Best Selected From 17 Years Of The Lapidary Journal by Hugh Leiper
ISBN: 978-6000893552
Review: Do you own a giant stack of Lapidary Journals? If so, then this book is not for you! For the rest of us, this is a great alternative. This book contains some of the very best articles that ever appeared in Lapidary Journal, such as a number of great articles on homemade saws for cutting rocks that you can build yourself, different polishing tips and tricks, guides on cutting cabochons, jewelry making and so much more. I got this book for $3.95 and it’s worth every penny!
Title: Gem Cutting: A Lapidary’s Manual by John Sinkankas (1955)
ASIN: B0000CJBMG
Review: This might be the most well-rounded book on the subject of lapidary that I have seen. If I could make any criticism about this book, it would be that the title doesn’t accurately represent the content. This book covers so much more than gem cutting, it covers all aspects of lapidary from the fundamentals of cutting to fine mosaics and inlay work and everything in between. It even has some great diagrams on to follow for some homemade machines. If I could go back in time and buy this book before ever even trying to cut my first rock, I would.
Title: Gem Tumbling and Baroque Jewelry Making by Arthur Earl Victor and Lila Mae Victor (1962)
ASIN: B003MR8SLQ
Review: I must admit that I am not that big of a fan of tumbling rocks, but this book contains some of the very best advice I have seen written on the subject. It gives specific advice on how to be successful tumbling different kinds of rocks, consideration when building your own rock tumbler, and some tips on making Baroque jewelry.
Title: Handbook for the Amateur Lapidary by J. Harry Howard (1940)
ISBN: n/a
Review: This is perhaps the most influential lapidary book about gem cutting in America. Before the publication of this book there was next to no gem cutting being done in America and it wasn’t even a thing that people thought about doing. The first printing of this was in 1935 and what I have here is believed to be a second printing that was intended to be sent to a library due to the check-out cardholder slip in the back cover. The exact copy was in the J. Harry Howard collection at the McKissick museum, sitting unread since the J. Harry Howard’s death in 1962.
Title: Introduction To Lapidary by Pansy D. Kraus (1987)
ISBN: 978-0801972669
Review: This book contains what I believe to be a larger number of reprints from other sources by the author who was an editor for The Lapidary Journal. Much of the information you will find in this book is fairly basic and covers topics such as how to select a rock tumbler, making a cabochon, or using a flat lap. What is rather special about this book is the section on intarsia and pietre dure. This is section contains some only written descriptions of how artists like William Grundke and Olive Colhoure created their impressive stone works and this alone makes the book worth buying.
Title: Introduction To Stone Intarsia by Bill Boggs (2019)
ISBN: N/A
Review: Other than a handful of old Lapidary Journal articles, there isn’t much in the way of useful information on how to preform intarsia work other than this guide, which I must say is excellent. It walks you through the basic process and gives you all the information need to hit the ground running with your first handful of intarsias.
Title: Painting With Rocks: How to Create Inlay Jewelry by Jeff Fulkerson (2025)
ISBN: 979-8340122872
Review: If you are interested in stone inlay, learning how to silversmith and creating some basic intarsia, this is a great book to have on your shelf. The book has a decent number of step-by-step tutorials on how to make things like a ring, pendant, earrings, and a bolo. I would highly recommend this book if you’re interested in inlay.
Title: Pietre Dure The Art of Semiprecious Stonework by Annamaria Giusti
ISBN: 978-0892368495
Review: This book provides an incredibly detailed look at the history of pietre dure, from Rome in the sixteenth’s century to the modern Florentine mosaic, this book leaves no stone unturned on the subject. Chapter 7 shows in detail how these stones are being cut and fitted, and that alone is worth the price.
Title: Star Gems by Douglas L Hoffman (1967)
ASIN: B0007FMFY2
Review: This is the very best guide I have ever seen on the subject of star gems, it has the best explanation of asterism and chatoyancy, how to orientate your gems for cutting, machine suggestions, and tips on getting a great polish. If you have any interest in cutting star garnets, this is the book for you.
Title: The Art of Gem Cutting by DR. H. C. Dake 6th Edition (1956)
ASIN: B000XUFSA4
Review: I love this little book! It just about has it all and covers almost all aspects of lapidary a person would want to know about. From cutting cabochons, faceting, gemology, spheres, cameos, drilling, and polishing…etc. It’s a rather dated book, but it provides excellent insight into the past, and much of it is still very relevant today.
Title: The Art of the Lapidary by Francis J. Sperisen (1950)
ISBN: 978-1299939370
Review: I wouldn’t say this book is anything all too special, but it does cover just about every aspect of the lapidary craft that a person might be interested in learning about. I personally found the chapters on drilling holes in stones and inlay to be the most helpful to me. As of early 2026 this title can often be found for less than $10 which makes it a good option for someone just getting started.
Title: The Calligraphy Collection by Elise Misiorowski (2019)
ISBN: 978-0464207122
Review: This coffee table style photography book showcases the intarsia work of Nicolai Medvedev, and it is a stunning book to look at. His intarsia boxes are some of the finest stone art ever produced, and it all captured in this book. Often this book is very pricey but I managed a used copy for $30, and it’s worth every penny to see how he constructed his boxes. You can see some of his work in person at the Alfie Norville Gem & Mineral Museum in Arizona.