The authors of this volume presented a short course on the rare earth elements to about 80 participants in San Francisco, California, December 1-3, 1989, just prior to the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. This was the nineteenth in a series of short courses that the Mineralogical Society of America (MSA) began sponsoring in 1974. It was the brain-child of Robert Hazen and David Stewart, and the latter was the agent who recruited Bruce Lipin (and later, Gordon McKay) to undertake this monumental work. This book joins a long list of Reviews in Mineralogy (see opposite page for details) that MSA has made available to the scientific community at reasonable cost. The editors and authors thank Mrs. Marianne Stern and Mrs. Margie Sentelle at Virginia Tech for their tireless efforts (under considerable pressure) in preparation of camera-ready copy for this volume. We also thank Mr. Todd N. Solberg for helping with word-processing problems on the computer. <...>

The following pages are intended to supply the student with a comprehensive account of the present condition and probable early history of the external crust of the earth, an elementary treatise on the science of Crystallography, and a systematic arrangement and description of the various Minerals found in nature.

The author of the treatise on Geology has already published both elementary and practical works on the subject; and to one of these he feels it right to refer, as it may seem not dissimilar to the present treatise in plan and treatment. The work alluded to (“ Elementary Course of Geology, Mineralogy, and Physical Geography,” London, 1850) is, however, in reality very unlike this, and adapted for a different purpose. It may either succeed or accompany this volume in the hands of the student, but cannot be substituted for it, being more technical, and in greater detail in the departments of Physical Geography and Descriptive Geology ; while the Geological portion of the following pages will be found to abound in generalization,—theoretical, descriptive, and practical. As an instance, the Author may mention the distinct treatise on the application of Geological Knowledge to the Art of Landscape Painting, which forms a prominent part of the division entitled “Practical Geology:' The novelty of this subject, its great interest, and a due consideration of the many ways in which the observations of the Artist and the Geologist run parallel, form an ample apology for its insertion; and the mode in which the subject was received by the profession (when it formed the substance of a series of Lectures delivered a few years ago at the Suffolk Street Gallery, before the Society of British Artists) has induced the Author to bring it forward on the present occasion. <...>

The Handbook of Mineralogy series is a Five Volume set authored by John W. Anthony, Richard A.  Bideaux, Kenneth W. Bladh, and Monte C. Nichols, and published by Mineral Data Publishing. Each  mineral known at the time of publication occupies one page of the handbook.
In 2001 the copyright for the Handbook of Mineralogy was given to the Mineralogical Society of  America by Kenneth W. Bladh, Richard A. Bideaux, Elizabeth Anthony-Morton and Barbara G.  Nichols and the remaining volumes were shipped to the MSA warehouse in Chantilly, VA.
Along with the copyright, MSA was given pdf files of each page of the handbook. These are freely  distributed to the public on this website.

This volume is a collection of lectures presented during the 2009 International School on High-pressure Crystallography, which took place at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture, between June 4 and 14, 2009, in the very picturesque Sicilian town of Erice. The 2009 school was the 41st course of the “International School of Crystallography” organized at the Majorana Center and was directed by Elena Boldyreva (Novosibirsk University) and Przemyslaw Dera (University of Chicago). Unmatched support and excellent on-site organization was provided by the expert team consisting of Prof. Paola Spadon (Uniersity of Padova), Prof. Lodovico Riva di San Severino (University of Bologna), Elena Papinutto and Prof. John Irvin (University of California, San Franciso), aided by great team of young local organizers (“orange scarfs”). <...>