The references below focus mainly on natural gemstones and the gems made from them rather than on synthetic gemstones, rocks, or other nongem minerals.
Minerals Yearbook
The relatively few pages on gemstones in the multivolume Minerals Yearbook provide data on sources, kinds, and volume of domestic production, domestic consumption, prices, and foreign trade. This U.S. Bureau of Mines yearbook is in the reference sections of many major libraries. It can be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.
Books
Gemology, Cornelius S. Hurlbut Jr. and Robert C. Kammerling: John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1991, 2nd ed.
Gemstones and Their Origins, Peter C. Keller: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1990.
Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones, Joel Arem: Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1987, 2nd ed., 68 p.
Gemstones for Everyman, B.W. Anderson: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1976, 268 p.
Gems and Precious Stones, Curzio Cipriani and Alessandro Boreli; Valerie Palmer, translator: Kennie Lyman, U.S. editor: Simon and Schuster, New York, 1986, 384 p.
Gem and Crystal Treasures, Peter Bancroft: Mineralogical Record, Carson City, NV, 1984, 488 p.