Royal Jewels Books

[wettin]

Bookreader

I´ve heard about a pretty good book about the Dutch royal jewels, written in Dutch. Can anyone give me the name of the auther and titel.

 

[florawindsor]

Best Royal Jewels Books

hi guys, plz help me pick one book about royal jewels.

i'm crazy about royal jewels,and want to buy a book about the royal jewels, but as i'm not in Britain or US and the shipping fee of Amazon.com is very expensive, i don't have the chance to buy one. now one of my friend is on business trip to Canada, and he can got a book for me as a birthday present. but as I never really read these books before, i don't know which one to choose. from what i've read on the Royal Jewels board, i think the following books are good, but i can't have all of them at once, so plz, help me pick one!

basically i'm only interested in the jewels of current British royal family, esp. those still in existence (if the jewel no longer exist, then no need to know about it). the books should have colored pictures of the jewels, also information about the provenance and current whereabouts of the jewels

which of the following books should I get??

leslie field: queen's jewels [it's a good book, but isn't it devoted to past royal jewels as well?]

leslie field: the jewels of queen elizabeth ii: her personal collection [only jewels of HM]

geoffrey munn: tiaras : past and present [tiara only?]

geoffrey munn: tiaras: a history of splendour [too expensive, but i guess it's a great book?]




thanks for your help!!! bow

 

[Warren]

Geoffrey Munn's "Tiaras: A History of Splendour" is truly a magnificent book, but the most expensive of the lot.

If you want something concentrating on the British jewels I would suggest The Royal Jewels by Suzy Menkes, Grafton Books ISBN 0 246 13374 0.

Leslie Field's "The Jewels of Queen Elizabeth" is worth having, but has a narrower focus.

I would go with Menkes for the broad sweep, some good stories, and lots of photos (colour and b & w).

W

 

[florawindsor]

thank you Warren! i'll add that book to my list.

 

[tiaraprin]

I wouldn't discount Leslie Field's book either about the Royal Collection. I own it and it is wonderfully researched and the pictures are beautiful!

It has been said that Suzy Menkes' book has some factual errors?

 

[florawindsor]

hi tiarapin, from what I read on this board, the Leslie Field book is great. but isn't it only about the Queen's collection of Jewels? does it have information&pictures about the other royals' Jewels(for example, the Kents', the Gloucesters')?

 

[BeatrixFan]

Re:

The Southebys Catalogue of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's belongings is a good one for pictures of royal rocks - you could probably get it through Ebay like I did or give Southebys a call - they might still have some.

 

[Lady Jean]

Leslie Field's book does only concentrate on QEII's collection so it has many pictures of her, Queen Mary, and Queen Alexandra and not of her cousins. The quality of and number of photos is superior to those in the Menkes book, I think. I have the Field book in both paperback and hardcover - the paperback would be an economical solution for you so you can have them all.

Tiaras A History of Splendor by Munn is also very good. It's huge, the quality of photos is excellent. About half of it is devoted to the Windsor's collection.

I case you have heard of these: Tiara by Diana Scarisbrick or Ancestral Jewels by the same author I wouldn't recommend for you because neither focuses on the Windsors. Also the Ancestral book focuses mostly on the aristocracy and includes info about jewels that have disappeared/been stolen which I think is not of interest to you.

 

[tiaraprin]

hi tiarapin, from what I read on this board, the Leslie Field book is great. but isn't it only about the Queen's collection of Jewels? does it have information&pictures about the other royals' Jewels(for example, the Kents', the Gloucesters')?

There are mentions of the jewels that Queen Mary gave to each branch of her family such as the Kents, Gloucesters, and the Harewoods (her daughter, Princess Mary married the Earl of Harewood). She does include at times pictures of Queen Mary wearing the jewels that she then gave to each branch of her family. You will see some of the Gloucester and Kent Tiaras currently used, and she talks about other jewels that these branches of the family wears, but no pictures unfortunately such as Princess Marina's daisy brooches which now belong to Princess Michael of Kent.

 

[florawindsor]

thank you Lady Jean & Tiarapin, your opinions are very valuable to me. thanks a lot. i'll try to get both the Leslie Field& the Suzy Menkes books.

thanks BeatrixFan, I'll try Southerby, but i wonder if they'll care to send me a catalogue..

 

[florawindsor]

it turns out Edmonton is not a good place for royalbooks shopping, my friend tried many stores and found nothing at all ;(

now he's trying to find me the books on the internet. the Suzy Menkes book is too expensive, 2nd hand, at least 40 dollars, shipping fee not included...

so I'm counting on the Leslie Field book. but another problem came up. there are two books, with similar names, but different price.

1.The Jewels of Queen Elizabeth II, Her Personal Collection
Field, Leslie

2.The Queen's Jewels: The Personal Collection of Elizabeth II (ISBN:0810915251)
Field, Leslie

which one is the right one to get? is the former one a reprint/later edition of the latter one. or is the latter one the same with Queen's Jewels by LESLIE FIELD ISBN: 0810981726, with a wrong subhead?

I'm really confused

 

[Elspeth]

They're basically the same book; you'd probably be better off with the most recent edition you can get. Also, at least one edition is available in paperback, which will be cheaper to ship.

 

[florawindsor]

thank you Elspeth ;P i got the first one

 

[mybags]

Geoffrey Munn's Tiaras: Past and Present is an excellent book for the British Royal Family Jewels. As for his second book, Tiaras: A History of Splendour, keep you eyes open on Ebay. I just bought the book for $20.

 

[Adamari]

Other royal jewelry books

Other titles:

1. The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor by John Culme and Nicholas Rayner (The Vendome Press in association with Sotheby's) ISBN 0-86565-089-6. In your library: DA581.W5R39 1987 or 941.084'092'4

2. The Windsor Style by Suzy Menkes (Grafton Books, a division of the Collins Publishing Group) ISBN 0-246-13212-4. In your library: DA581.W5 or 941.084'092'2

3. Famous Jewelry Collectors by Stefano Papi and Alexandra Rhodes (Thams & Hudson) ISBN 0-500-01960-6. My copy doesn't give me the library call numbers. Book includes a section on aristocratic collectors such as the Duchess of Windsor, Princes von Thurn und Taxis, King Umberto II of Italy and others.

4. Queens' Jewels by Vincent Meylan (Assouline) ISBN 2 84323 364 X. My copy doesn't give me the library call numbers. Website is www.assouline.com. I bought it on Amazon.ca

5. Theirs is the Kingdom: The Wealth of the British Royal Family by Andrew Morton. (Summit Books) ISBN 0-671-69002-7. No library call numbers in mine. Has a section on royal jewels.

6. People and Pearls: The Magic Endures by Ki Hackney and Diana Edkins (HarperCollins) ISBN 0-06-019331-X. Library call numbers: GT2255.H33 2000 or 391.7-dc21. Includes royal figures in its look at pearls, including Grace Kelly and Diana.

7. Bijoux des reines et princesses de Belgique by Christophe Vachaudez. I saw an article about this book in the June 23, 2004 edition of Point de Vue magazine (issue no. 2918).

 

[Lady Jennifer]

If you ever get the chance to go to the Tower of London they have a book that they sell on the crown jewels (I can't rememeber the name of it....I bought it when I was at the Tower 8yrs ago but I put it somewhere & I don't remember where ).
Its a neat book. I'm not sure if you can buy it anywhere but at the Tower. I'll try to look for it.

 

[Antoine]

If you ever get the chance to go to the Tower of London they have a book that they sell on the crown jewels (I can't rememeber the name of it....I bought it when I was at the Tower 8yrs ago but I put it somewhere & I don't remember where ).
Its a neat book. I'm not sure if you can buy it anywhere but at the Tower. I'll try to look for it.

Georgeus in spanish is the book "Las joyas de las reinas de España", very important for queen sofia's jewels collection.

 

[HRH Kerry]

I just ordered Tiaras: A History of Splendour by Geoffrey C. Munn for $47.25. Can't wait to see it!

 

[Boris]

When it comes to the British Royal jewels, I'd prefer Leslie Field's book over Suzy Menkes' anytime: Better researched, better photographs, absolutely reliable. Suzy Menkes provides more info on the jewels of The Duchess of Windsor, Princess Diana and The Duchess Of York, including great pics, but there are also quite a few major factual mistakes in those sections. When it comes to the 'historical' Windsor jewels, Leslie Field's book is still the best to buy.
Munn's book is wonderful, but its focus is on British jewels only, both royal and noble.
I wish there was just one single book documenting the jewelry collections of all European Royal houses, but none has been published so far.

 

[HRH Kerry]

Thanks for the tips Boris. I'm always grateful for the advice I receive from TRF members.

 

[Amy]

Does anyone have Vincent Meylan's Queens' Jewels and can tell me how good it is (how detailed, photographs ect).
The review on Amazon says:
Meylan has put together the collection of jewels of the royal houses of Russia, France, Spain, Sweden, Britain, Italy, Iran, Austria, Belgium and the Balkans. Not only the crown jewels but as well the personal jewlery of the crowned heads are described and their history traced.

 

[Boris]

When I first heard about Meylan's book I was looking very much forward to it, only to be quite disappointed. It promises a lot but the only great thing about it is the outsized format.
The photographs are mostly of very poor quality, the kind of out-of-focus blow ups which look just cheap (you can see much better pics going through the threads here!), and they only show the best-known pieces of each respective Royal House. The text itself is rather superficial, providing some new info regarding Russia, Iran, the Balkans, but it's not very detailed when it comes to the jewels of Spain, Sweden, Britain etc.
Unfortunately, the whole enterprise amounts to not much more than a 'coffee table book' and was totally overpriced when it first came out. As I said, quite a disappointment for me, and I still hope for some definite book about 'Royal Jewels Of Europe' to be published in the future.
Bottom line: If you're on a budget and/or seriously interested in jewels, I would recommend Field, Munn, and 'Famous Jewelry Collectors' by Papi & Rhodes, all mentioned by fellow posters above.

 

[Warren]

Boris is spot-on with his review of Vincent Meylan's "Queens' Jewels". Very disappointing, considering the work he does for Point de Vue, and quite a few "filler" pages of uninteresting photographs. Give it a miss, unless you can get it for $5 or less.

 

[fee]

I loved Munn's and Fields books, I spent hours drooling over the pix and the information. And I wished there was a book on all european kingdoms.
Does anybody remember the gorgeous webside that had all those wonderful pix and the information with it? It was a very sad day, when it had to be shut down due to copyright reasons.

 

[Elspeth]

I agree about the Meylan book. I had a look at it when I saw it in the bookshop, and then waited till I could find a deeply discounted copy. It's nice to have around, but not if you have to pay serious money for it.

 

[Amy]

Thankyou for the advice on the Meylan book, i think i will give it a miss now especially as Boris so very well said "you can see much better pics going through the threads here!"

 

[SofiaM]

Amy and Boris, I have to say I agree with you. I still saw Danjels site live with all the pics and my only regret was that I only saved some of the pics, there were too many.
But some of the threads have pics from Danjel's site and others can be traced. And because some pages are still live, the history of those pieces can still be viewed.

As for Meylan's book, I was disapointed when I browsed it in a library. I gave up buying it.

 

[AuroraB]

Just received both Munn's Tiaras: A History of Splendour and Field's The Queen's Jewels yesterday in the mail. It was like having Christmas early, except the temperature outside was 99F instead of 30F. Needless to say, the household tasks that are usually done on my day off were severely curtailed, but what a wonderful way to spend the day!!

 

[HRH Kerry]

I ordered Tiaras: A History of Splender also but I haven't received it yet. Comments like yours is the reason I made the purchase. Thanks!!!

 

[Warren]

I ordered Tiaras: A History of Splender also but I haven't received it yet. Comments like yours is the reason I made the purchase. Thanks!!!

Kerry, some of the pics you will have seen posted here, but there are many others of wonderful and lesser-known tiaras.
Two other things worth mentioning about the Munn bible: the photographic reproduction is excellent, and Mr Munn is a witty writer. His history of head ornaments in relation to over-the-top and towering 18th century hairstyles is a scream. Entire miniature farmyards and other rustic scenes made of blown-glass nestling in the hair... sedan chairs with roofs that could be raised to accommodate the occupant's hair... grisly deaths when greasy hairpieces came into contact with candles... All true!