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.
|