![The Mineralogical Record Bookstore: Fine Minerals of China <br><b>[TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK]</b> - Guanghua Liu](covers/BookCover-35.jpg)
Hardcover, 366 pages
2006
Published by AAA Minerals AG, Switzerland; printed in China
Dimensions 8.5 x 12 (inches)
Price
$90.00
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Fine Minerals of China
[TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK]by Guanghua Liu
Fine Minerals of China is a hefty and spectacularly beautiful photo album of China’s mineral riches—511 specimen photos are included, which must have come close to cleaning out the photo files of Jeff Scovil, the main contributor. Raini Sicher, Berthold Ottens, the author himself and a few others also provided photos. In addition, there are 102 very interesting and sometimes quite beautiful photos of people and places in China. Several of the locality photos include the author, giving the book the feeling of a scrapbook in places, which is a pleasant and personal touch. The author, Guanghua Liu, is well-known in the mineral world as the proprietor of AAA Minerals International, and has a PhD in Geology from the University of Tübingen.
The photo quality and reproduction quality are consistently high, in contrast to some of the previously published books on Chinese minerals printed in China. An occasional photo lacks sufficient resolution or is a bit off (colors too intense), but the vast majority are superb, and that is quite an accomplishment for a collection of over 500 images. The paper is glossy, thick, and perfectly opaque, which at 366 pages makes for a heavy book, nearly 5 pounds. The hardcover binding is also glossy, with mineral photos on front and back.
The book is arranged alphabetically by province, and each province is represented by one to 11 localities, all of which have produced fine mineral specimens in recent times. The localities are presented in no particular order within each province chapter, and are supported by very little text (usually only 2 or 3 inches at most), so this is not a book that will give a lot of reference information, collecting stories or background material on the localities—it’s a picture book. But it does include sketch maps showing the approximate locations of the various mines and occurrences. And 19 pages at the beginning give an introduction and brief reviews of the geology, mineral deposits, mining history and mineral dealing scene in China.
At the back is some useful reference information: an eight-page list of locality names, with latitudes, longitudes and minerals found; a list of 100 mineral species first found in China; an 11-page list of meteorites found in China (though this is of limited use since it fails to indicate the type of meteorite in each case); a species index, a locality index, and a list of 49 selected references (some in Chinese and some from the Western literature).
There is more than the usual number of errors (some technical, some geographical, and some the result of the author’s lack of fluency in English and lack of publishing experience), but China expert Berthold Ottens has provided an errata list that is inserted into each copy of the book. Though the book has its imperfections, in total it is an impressive work that documents the almost unbelievable outpouring of fine mineral specimens from China in recent years. All collectors will enjoy it, and the production quality amply justifies the price.
Wendell E. Wilson
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