For the past eleven days, I’ve been in temporary possession of the greatest book known to man — okay, known to me, in light of certain research I am doing, Ruby & Sapphire by Richard W. Hughes. This is for me, a tome of great knowledge; simply the most complete treatment of ruby and sapphire, combined with the most comprehensive unabridged bibliography ever published on the subject. To hold it in my grimy unworthy paws, even for three weeks on inter-library loan, is indeed an honor.

Naturally I would love to own this book. You can see at Amazon what they’re going for, as it is amazingly out of print. (A new edition, however, was announced over a year ago on the website as being in the works. So if nothing else, I hope to own R&S, 3rd ed. at some point in the future.)

I can’t help my obsession. I love gemstones, I’m completely hung up over sapphires, especially stars. This book is over 500 pages, is huge and has many beautiful photographs. I will be attempting to copy less than a fifth of it before it leaves my hands; just the information most useful to me at this point, and any sections of bibliography I feel would be helpful (said biblio is SO comprehensive, it is broken down by chapter. Mmmmmmyeah.) Luckily for me, some of the sections I meant to copy are reprinted in full on the website, and those I can print out for free.

I aspire to own many things, I admit — but this is probably the most expensive (until 3rd ed. comes out) and most… nerdy. ^^;