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PLEASE CLICK ON PICTURE TO READ ENTIRE REVIEW.

BY MANON KAVESKY

Title: Bijoux

Author: Deanna Farneti Cera

Type of Book: paper

Average Price:  $19.95 list price, mine was $12.48 on Amazon

In Print: yes

Pages: 378



Brief Description of Book: Yummy!



Bijoux is full of really beautiful photos of high quality top shelf pieces of costume jewelry. The jewelry pieces selected strike a nice balance between rare and unusual jewels and those items that could be attained with a good eye and a healthy checkbook. There are no duds in this book.



Bijoux hails from an Italian publisher and the chapter text and captions are presented side by side in Italian and English. It seems ironic the author called the book Bijoux which is French for jewelry. Perhaps they used the French because there are so many French pieces included.



The first short chapter discussed the difference between imitation jewelry, bijoux de couture and costume/fashion jewelry. The big idea that I took from the first section is that bijoux de couture leads the way with style innovations and fashion/costume jewelry follows that lead.



The second chapter discussed major technological innovations in jewelry starting in the 1700’s with the perfection of paste jewels. This section is concise and careful study should help readers narrow down the age or styles of jewelry they are trying to identify. According to the author the production of hair jewelry enjoyed popularity for about 300 years starting in the 17th century and finally falling out of fashion in about 1930. I did not know that hair enjoyed such a long reign in the jewel box so I guess I better take a good long look at the pieces I own and figure out when they were made. I had assumed they were all Victorian.



The final section and the meat and potatoes of the book cover jewelry styles from Victorians (1837-1901) to the 1990’s. The usual suspects are well represented: Trifari and Haskell. A strong focus on European designers such as Chanel (and satellites Goossens, Gripoix, Canovas), Coppola & Toppo, Schiaparelli, Dior, YSL, and many many more. Also lots of unmarked pieces loaded with rhinestones from France.



Small format paperback, 1-¼ inches thick, quality sewn signatures, shouldn’t fall apart.



Quality of visual material: The photos are of exceptional quality. All are in color.  Most pages have one item, smaller items share pages, but it seems as if most items get their own page. No clever backgrounds or unusual props black or white backgrounds throughout.

B/w: None

Color Photos:  all not sure of count at least 350

Score: 10



Quantity of Information: Enough this is a visual book and not a scholarly treatise
Is the information thorough? yes



Comments: Easy read in English, I don’t read Italian well enough to gauge the text. All photos are captioned in English and Italian with a description of the item, origin, maker materials and loose date of production. This book does not include prices or values.

Score: 10







User Friendly: Yes

Is the book easy to read and follow? yes

Is there a table of contents? yes

Is information easy to find? yes

Score: 9



Average score 9





Is this book a must have? Yes every page is a gem (lol snort giggle) for all the reasons stated above and the price is unbeatable. A great book to stock up on and give as gifts to your jewel collecting friends.
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