# The magic of jewels and charms

> A richly detailed exploration of the lore, legend, and supposed powers of precious stones and amulets. Drawing on history, folklore, and science, it surveys the enduring human fascination with the magic attributed to gems.

Price: 8.50 USD · in stock

## About
Across every culture and age, human beings have looked into the depths of a gemstone and seen more than mineral, reading in it protection, healing, fortune, and power. This book gathers that vast body of belief, tracing the magic that people have attributed to jewels and charms from antiquity onward.What it's aboutThe volume surveys the legends, superstitions, and supposed virtues of precious and semi-precious stones and of the amulets and talismans fashioned from them. It ranges across history and folklore to show what different peoples believed particular gems could do, from warding off illness and evil to bringing luck and love, and it sets these beliefs alongside the natural history and lore of the stones themselves. The result is a wide-ranging compendium of jewel lore.ThemesAt its centre is the enduring human impulse to invest objects with meaning and power, and the tangle of science, superstition, and symbolism that gathers around beautiful and rare things. The book explores the boundary between belief and knowledge, and the ways that folklore, religion, and early science all contributed to the magic surrounding gems.Why it still mattersAs a treasury of gemstone lore, the book preserves a rich vein of folklore and cultural history that still colours the way we think about jewels today. It offers historians of superstition and material culture a valuable survey, and general readers an absorbing tour of one of humanity's most persistent enchantments.Who it's forLovers of folklore and curiosities, readers drawn to gemstones and their history, and anyone fascinated by the meeting of belief and beauty. It rewards browsing as much as reading straight through, a trove of lore for the curious.

## Specifications
- language: en
- format: paperback