FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[John S. White]

Another fine new book is now available to mineral collectors, this one in French. I am happy to be able to share with you the review written by Quintin Wight, which appeared in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Rocks & Minerals magazine. Since I don't read French, I have to defer to Quintin for a better review than I could write.

BTW, we are also waiting for a descriptive text from the publishers of the great French magazine Le Règne Minéral, they are the people who are selling the book. As soon as we get this text we will publish it here too.

[Gail]

Thank you John, can't wait to see it and enjoy seeing how much French I do/don't remember?
Looks like a wonderful book.

[Peter Megaw]

Picked up a copy of this from Pierre and Nellie at St. Marie this summer...its debut. Having failed high school French twice, I was pleasantly surprised that because the book has so many excellent pictures by Nellie that I could muddle through without great difficulty.

[John S. White]

Ordering information for the Bariand book:

Regne Mineral
email Louis Dominiuqe Bayle at baylelrm(at)wanadoo(com)fr

Price 23 Euros

[Peter]

It is an important publication to document booth some of Professor Bariands activities,
travels, specimen acquisitions. There are severa;l photographs from deposits and of specimens valuable wether you can read french or not.
For those who has not seen the Sorbonne Collection in Paris I can highly recommend it.
Professor bariand had an excellent taste for and knowledge about minerals. The exhibit hall and exhibit cases are state of the art despite beeing several decades old!
The collection is continuing growing with its "new" curator since ten years.

In every such publication most of us will find something which fills in some gaps.
For instance the long superb aquamarine on page 105, has exactly the same morphology, di and tri hexagonal faces seen on one half, the other showing primarily hexagonal, exactly the same etching, terminations w etching, color as its little brother (2/3 of its size), a crystal I have obtained some years ago. It came with a Brazilian dealer to Tucson in 1984, was sold to a Parisian private collector, then back to the USA and then to me. Locality is given as the Golconda Mine and the Sorbonne aqua it was acquired from Martin Ehrmann in 1965 as I recall.

[Peter]

Dear John

I am sure you have many interesting stories to write down yourself like Professor Bariand! See you soon Peter

[Jordi Fabre]

Here is the promised text of the editors of the Bariand's book, the guys of the French magazine Le Règne Minéral, they are also the people who are selling the book.

Pierre Bariand is one of the greatest French mineralogists of the past 50 years. He was famously the curator of the mineral collection at the University of Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris) since 1957 to 1998. With the help of his wife Nelly, a great mineral photographer, Pierre has published many books which had great success, such as Minéral passion (it is now sold out) and le Larousse des pierres précieuses, but this is the first time Pierre has related his life as a mineralogist and the history of the Sorbonne collection.
After a short introduction where Pierre explains the origin of his passion for mineralogy, which began in the rich mining region of Limousin (in the French Massif Central), we are immediately plunged into the history of the Sorbonne collection, from the creation of the Sorbonne itself to the end of Pierre’s career there. It is through many anecdotes that we discover the history of this mythical collection which Pierre created, thanks to his knowledge, his relations, his persistence and tenacity and his good taste of course! He relates experiences in Iran, Gabon, the Tucson Mineral Show, the Boléo mine, the Pala mine, etc.; so many dream destinations for minerals lovers! In the second part, he relates his mineralogical adventures in Iran, Afghanistan and Brazil in search of wulfenite, caledonite, plattnerite, iranite, lazurite, afghanite, etc.! It can be read as a novel and it is accompanied by beautiful photos, some of which are impressive! Maps are included to help the reader locate the different mines. Finally, Pierre presents the history of the most emblematic specimens of the collection. This provides an opportunity to admire Nelly Bariand’s wonderful photographs. This section makes us take a fresh look at these specimens.
This new publication from Les Editions du Piat, also the publisher of the French mineralogical magazine Le Règne Minéral, is certainly an indispensable book for all mineral lovers because it is rich in mineralogical and historical data concerning classical deposits and species.

[keith]

Another fine book by P Bariand.

My only disappointment was that it did not focus more on French Minerals.

But having said that it is a commentary on the places the author and his wife have travelled to and specimens they have seen and or acquired for the museum.
Great photos taken by his wife Nelly

Interesting book in French

[str4hler]

I bought this fantastic book in Munich october 2008.
As you can imagine, for me as a "mineral traveller" Pierre and his beautiful book is a great inspiration for me...

Please note there are two versions of this book. There is also a luxurious version (the hand-numbered "Editions de luxe") ; mine is 7/40, so I hope they are still for sale.
This book is a classic... It will remain on my bookshelf the coming 50 years....

Cheers! Frank

[renpagan]

A wonderful book. Besides mineralogy, it can be read as a thriller -- How one of the most important mineral collections can be built with relatively modest financial resources and the imgenuity of one man: Pierre Bariand.