Minerals are part of our heritage and must be protected both for their scientffic and economic interest and for the beauty of their form.
Well-crystallized specimens are rare, and, for obvious reasons, such as weathering, invading vegetation and human destruction, it is rarely possible to conserve the minerals in situ. Collections are therefore the only means of saving mineral specimens, and form the practical bases of mineralogy and of numerous other closely related and derived disciplines.
Crystal synthesis is currently very topical. The earth's crust is undoubtedly the centre of synthesis with the most possibilities; one of these - time, on the geological scale - is saddly lacking to scientists. Although these natural products represent the outcome of physico-chemical processes which are often impossible to reproduce by the means available to us, we allow most of them to be lost through lack of means of collecting and conserving. In addition, the development of modern mining methods also makes it difficult to save specimens during mining; we are also witnessing the rapid disappearance of the surface zones of deposits, which are richer in well crystallized minerals;
For these reasons public collections must be developed to the full by providing them with the means, not only of conserving but also of collecting in the field, mineralogical specimens whose value is totally unrelated to that of the contained metals.
If a museum, during a certain period of time, does not present its collections or presents them badly, it is certainly not fulfilling its role, but the collections are not lost. The most important task, therefore, after collecting, is conserving.
Our book incorporates and completes our publications of 1964 and 1972 "En visitant les grandes collections minéralogiques mondiales" ("On visiting the great mineralogical collections of the world"). It is neither a catalogue nor a guide in the true sense, since personal opinion plays a large part. These are rather notes for visitors, intended to draw the attention of amateurs, and also of professionals, to the best samples in the collections we have had occasion to visit between 1953 and 1984. The addresses of most of the collections and museums are given in the "World Directory of Mineral Collections", 2nd ed., International Mineralogical Association (IMA), 1977.
...
These notes should make it possible for a collection to be visited rapidly while still seeing many of the best specimens. They also give information on the main mineralogical occurrences ofthe world and the shapes and measurements ofthe finest specimens, which helps in conjuring up mentally an "imaginary museum" in which all the wonders of the mineral world are stored.
In our opinion, taking into account the collections seen, the first ten collections of the world are, in alphabetical order:
Place-names have usually been carefully checked. Specimen numbers have been noted when they were accessible to the visitor, which is desirable. A few rapidly-drawn sketches - idealised and imperfect - illustrate certain remarkable specimens. We only mention exceptionally the rare species in sub-millimetric crystals, as this guide has been compiled for visitors who are amateurs of minerals and not for specialists.
Cut precious stones and objets d'art in hard stone have not generally been mentioned, as we are not competent in this field and in any case the place of these objects in a mineralogical collection is debatable.
...
Finally, it will be noticed that we have, more often than not, avoided passing judgment on the presentation of the collections, whose weakness lies generally, especially in the Latin countries, in the total lack of interest shown by the public authorities in scientific collections, those of natural history in particular.
We would like to emphasise one point: this book might suggest that, like too many curators, we consider that the value of the collections lies uniquely in the spectacular samples. This is not true. We believe sincerely that, if these exceptional specimens bring joy to the hearts of the conservators that, luckily, most of the curators are, and enable a better understanding of the possibilities of the mineral world, they are nevertheless only one of the spectacular and, in some cases, aesthetic aspects of the value of our collections. These collections must be, first and foremost, an irreplaceable instrument, which is constantly being improved, for all the scientists who need to consult natural materials.
These notes are also an account of the excellent times passed in the collections and reflect our constantly renewed wonder at the possibilities of the mineral world.
Our gratitude goes, therefore, to all our colleagues - curators, teachers and collectores - and we hope they will be lenient with us for the mistakes and omissions that we have surely made.
In conclusion, we would like to thank those who helped us, directly by providing reports of visits, by pointing out the interest of exceptional specimens, or who helped us materially in preparing the manuscript : ...
C.Guillemin - J.Mantienne