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A Necessary Introduction xiii
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form
which imparts knowledge painlessly. Would I write such a book? I
promptly sat down and began to write it, though without referring to
the sciences of mineralogy, crystallography and optics as I would have
done had I been a man of science instead of an ignoramus.
I
proposed to draw upon my own experiences alone, but eventually, the
subject demanding wider and more respectful treatment, I decided to
avail myself—with due acknowledgment—of the literature of the subject.
For nothing is worse than a bogus book which pretends to be
light-hearted merely to cover up its laziness. Such sources as I used
are all mentioned in the bibliography appended.
Gradually,
as the subject grew on me, I discovered much to my own surprise that
gems of one kind or another had been, so to speak, the stepping-stones
from one important event of my life to another. Thus the title of this
book, Gem Trader, has a personal significance for me. For there are few gems that do not enshrine a poignant or it may be an amusing memory.
Yet
one more word before you get to the book proper. It may be that you
will look in the book for certain elementary information about gems
which I, taking it all for granted, have not given there. Reading it
over again, I feel there is a certain minimum of facts you ought to
have and which you may as well be given here, where you can get them
over in one dose without risk of indigestion!
For instance, precious and semi-precious stones may roughly be classed in two main divisions, those which
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