This small book, compiled by myself and Chrissy Lampitt, is not quite 50 pages long and features over 300 photos of stones found on Gemstone Beach in Southland. Its aim is to help people with identifying some of the many interesting stones found on Gemstone Beach (and elsewhere), and to appreciate their beauty and diversity. It has a wire spiral binding and reasonably hard-wearing pages. The book was launched at a meeting of the Southland Geological and Lapidary Club on 10 September – see “The Book Launch” for my speech.
It’s worth repeating something I said at the book launch: “It has taken us some years to identify some stones, and even then we can’t be sure we’ve got it right. Identification is an ongoing learning process, and sometimes we change our minds in the light of further information. So this book is kind of a report on what we currently think. It’s by no means meant to be the final word.” We are rockhounds, not geologists.
The first print run of 100 copies sold out quickly and a second print run has now (early November) nearly gone. A third print run has just been ordered and delivered. Of the nearly 200 copies sold so far, just over 40% have gone to people in Southland, 10% to Otago, and 10% to Canterbury. Twenty-five per cent of sales have gone to the North Island and four books have gone overseas.
The book sells for $40, plus postage and handling in New Zealand of $7.50 non-rural or $10 rural. To get a copy, contact myself at john.tumblestone@gmail.com (I live in Whanganui in the North Island). Chrissy (who lives in Southland) has a contact form for book purchases on her blog here. Each of us can post a book to anywhere in the country (or overseas) and we may occasionally refer you to the other person if one of us sells out and are waiting for fresh copies.
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