Welcome to the Lapidary Journal Archive
Lapidary Journal was a publication that covered all aspects of lapidary, rockhounding and rock discoveries from 1947 to 2021. The purpose of this archive is to preserve this history and maintain a complete collection of Lapidary Journal. They should be documented and preserved before they become lost to time.
Lapidary Journal produced issues of the magazine from April 1947 until it was renamed in 2005 to Jewelry Art & Lapidary Journal and eventually Jewelry Artist in 2007. From 1999 to 2021 it started to decline, and ended production in the fall of 2021.
If you would like to contribute to the collection and preservation of the Lapidary Journal and future archive projects like this, I welcome all financial donations as well as donations of any missing issues!
If you would like to read an article from an issue in the collection, please reach out to me at currentlyrockhounding@gmail.com.
To see any cover image in a larger size, click on the image. Then, use the arrows to scroll through the covers from that year.
The Books
Lapidary Journal published three books during their existence, the first being Gem Cutting Shop Helps which was first published in 1964 and contains a collection of articles from the first 17 years of the magazine. In 1966 they published The Agates of North America and then in 1992 they published The Lapidary Journal Index 1947-1991 book.
The Timeline
The following cover scans are of the issues that I have in the collection. Jump to the year to see the cover images. If a year is not highlighted, it’s because the collection has no issues from that year.
1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999-2021
There is no way this archive would have been possible if it weren’t for three individuals who subscribed to Lapidary Journal back in the day and saved these for the future; Tom T Morgan, Doyle Boyington, and Bill Corey thank you for saving all of these issues throughout the years.
The Lapidary Journal is launched with the high hope that it will influence thousands of people in the years to come to learn the richly satisfying experience of doing something with their hands, of creating deathless things of beauty.
Lelande Quick 1899-1963 Founder, Publisher, and Editor, Lapidary Journal 1947
1947 Volume 1: The early years of Lapidary Journal (1947-1961) had a quarterly and then bimonthly publication schedule which also spanned multiple calendar years.
The first year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, July, October, and January.
1948 Volume 2:
The second year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1949 Volume 3:
The third year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1950 Volume 4:
The fourth year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1951 Volume 5: In the April issue of Lapidary Journal, the editor reported that they had 25,000 read of the magazine, which I assume to be the number of copies of each issue being printed, which is an impressive amount of growth for a magazine in its fifth year.
The fifth year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1952 Volume 6:
The sixth year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1953 Volume 7:
The seventh year of Lapidary Journal is available to be downloaded and enjoyed.
April, June, August, October, December, and February
1954 Volume 8:
1955 Volume 9:
1956 Volume 10:
1957 Volume 11 (XI):
1958: Volume 12 (XII):
1959 Volume 13 (XIII):
Starting in 1960 Lapidary Journal increased in size.
1960 Volume 14 (XIV):
1961 Volume 15 (XV):
1962 Volume 16: This was the year that Lapidary Journal made the switch to a monthly publication starting April. However, they continued to start a new volume every April and run it until April the following year, which is a little annoying from a cataloging standpoint. I’m choosing to organize the collection by calendar year rather than volumes.
1963 Volume 17:
The Jade Clock
In February 1963, Lapidary Journal featured The Jade Clock on the cover and promoted the sale of this booklet about the construction of The Jade Clock by the San Francisco Gem & Mineral Society.
It is undoubtedly one of the greatest works of lapidary ever.
A PDF copy of the booklet is available.
1964 Volume 18:
1965 Volume 19:
1966 Volume 20: This year also saw the print of the book/magazine The Agates of North America, which contains a collection of articles written by varies authors. You can read the index of the articles in it here.
1967 Volume 21:
1968 Volume 22:
1969 Volume 23:
1970 Volume 24:
1971 Volume 25:
1972 Volume 26:
1973 Volume 27:
1974 Volume 28:
1975 Volume 29:
1976 Volume 30: This year was the peak of Lapidary Journal issue size. The total page count for volume 30 is 2864 pages.
1977 Volume 31:
1978 Volume 32:
1979 Volume 33:
1980 Volume 34:
1981 Volume 35:
1982 Volume 36:
1983 Volume 37:
1984 Volume 38:
By the time we hit the mid-1980s Lapidary Journal started to reduce down in size the number of pages printed in each issue.
1985 Volume 39: This year brought some fundamental changes to the magazine as far as format and quality goes. June 1985 marks the end of the golden age of Lapidary Journal, and it was even acknowledged in the June issue with the following letter from the editor.
The magazine continued to produce quality issues each month for many years to come, but in many ways this was the peak of the publication.
1986 Volume 40:
1987 Volume 41:
1988 Volume 42:
1989 Volume 43:
1990 Volume 44: November 1990 shipped with a little supplemental catalog glued inside it that advertised different books and videos you could purchase about gemology, gem cutting, minerals, jewelry making, and collecting locations. I found it particularly interesting that in 1947 they presold 1000 subscriptions to the magazine before it was made and now in 1990 they claim to have 100,000 subscribers.
1991 Volume 45: This year is a significant point for Lapidary Journal. This is when they really started to expand the topics covered in the magazine to include minerals, fossils, and beads, which greatly reduced the number of quality lapidary articles they were publishing throughout the year.
This was also the year the Lapidary Journal Index was released. June Culp Zeitner wrote the introduction to the Index and precisely described the magazine in the following statement, “A glance at The Lapidary Journal Index shows that LJ has become the history, the diary, and the prophet for a successful hobby, science, art, and profession. Lelande Quick was a dreamer and doer who put thoughts into action and gave a voice to our field. But I don’t think even Lelande could have imagined what has happened since Volume I, Issue 1 of the Lapidary Journal” -June Culp Zeitner
Another notable fact from The Lapidary Journal Index is that at the time of printing, nearly 8,500 articles had been indexed, covering every issue from the first 44 years of LJ.
1992 Volume 46:
1993 Volume 47: You might notice that some of these covers seem a bit off and some words are cut off, this is not due to the scanning of the covers but rather the covers this year have a number of printing errors.
1994 Volume 48:
1995 Volume 49:
1996 Volume 50:
1997 Volume 51: July marks the 50th anniversary of The Lapidary Journal. This issue had a number of reprints from the early years of the magazine, as well as many personal accounts and reflections on the value and importance of the magazine which were sent in by the readers, which were really nice to read. Lapidary Journal getting delivered was something that many people eagerly awaited every month.
1998 Volume 52:
1999-2021: The final 22 years of Lapidary Journal were some of the most disappointing years of the publication, as it became just a shell of what it once was, and it entered its “Jewelry Arts” stage. 2007 saw the sale of the magazine and the rebranding from The Lapidary Journal to Jewelry Artist. For these reasons, the final stage of life for this publication gets its own separate page here.
