Turquois — A Study of Its History, Mineralogy, Geology, Ethnology, Archaeology, Mythology, Folklore and Technology

Joseph E. Pogue's Turquois remains the single most ambitious study ever devoted to the stone, first published in 1915 as a Memoir of the National Academy of Sciences. Pogue, a mineralogist, ranged far beyond geology, weaving together the history, mineralogy, ethnology, archaeology, mythology, folklore, and technology of turquoise, with particular attention to the Southwest's ancient mines and the Pueblo and Navajo peoples for whom the stone carries deep meaning. It is the kind of comprehensive treatment later writers have leaned on for more than a century.

This copy is the sixth printing, issued in 1974 by The Rio Grande Press of Glorieta, New Mexico, as one of its well-regarded Rio Grande Classics reprints, which returned scarce Southwestern scholarship to circulation. The handsome gray boards with their red rule and green medallion faithfully echo the original Academy design, making this a durable and readable reissue of a true cornerstone reference.