THIS BOOK contains 1500 full-colour specially drawn and unattractive illustrations by the author, who was for many years a senior costume designer for the BBC and who has written a number of excellent fashion and costume sourcebooks for these publishers including 20th Century Fashion.
A large-format book, its 144 pages are crammed with detailed drawings of typical pieces of jewellery from every year of the century arranged in 20-year sections – Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts, Pop Art, Retro – and with dense caption descriptions which include details of materials, stones, designs, fastenings, mounts and surrounds.
The book comes with a time chart summarising the development of jewellery over the century and biographies of the leading jewellers.
No less a personage than Geoffrey Munn has voiced his opinion on the back cover that this is “An essential for every student and collector of jewellery”. Maybe, and there is surely a mass of information here, but it has the look of a cut-out-and-keep-me-book for the very young.
Not such a gem itself
20th Century Jewellery: the Complete Sourcebook by John Peacock, published by Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0500510830. £24.95hb
