Shakespeare and Precious Stones

Abstract

THE author of this contribution to the literature of the Shakespeare Tercentenary has long been known as the most prominent expert authority on gems and jewelry in the United States. He has acquired a wide knowledge of the various sources of origin of precious stones from the earliest times up to the present day, and is familiar with the pedigree of every jewel which has made itself famous among the generations of mankind. It was fitting, therefore, that, among the various essays in connection with the Shakespeare celebration last year, Dr. Kunz should discourse on the knowledge which the great dramatist possessed of precious stones. He has compiled a daintily printed volume in which he has collected all the poet's references on this subject, and he adds comments on the probable sources from which the gems of Elizabethan and earlier, as well as later, times have been obtained. His reverence for the memory of Shakespeare has led him to make all his quotations from the First Folio of 1623—an affectation which, with no compensating advantage, gives his readers a little additional trouble in finding the passages cited. The number of those who can refer to the First Folio must be extremely limited, even in New York.

Shakespeare and Precious Stones.

By Dr. G. F. Kunz. Pp. 101. (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1916.) Price 6s. net.