Fabergé books

After reading our last book club book and doing a little online research, I decided to request a bunch of books from the library on Fabergé and the eggs.

Fabergé 1846-1920: An International Loan Exhibition assembled on the occasion of the Queen's Silver Jubilee and including objects from the Royal Collection at Sandringham. (Debrett's Peerage Ltd. in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum) Published 1977.

• I love all the photographs! Both photos of the gorgeous works of art and of the history of Fabergé's shop. The color pictures of the creations are far superior to the black and white ones.
  
• Roy Strong (foreword) and A. Kenneth Snowman (introduction) walked a careful line in talking about what makes these pieces special while acknowledging that they were primarily extravagant luxuries for the royal and the rich.
• It was irritating to look at the images and then have to find the paragraph that referenced them. It was a LOT of flipping back and forth to match the info with the image. I didn't bother reading the paragraphs if I didn't have a corresponding picture to look at. (How many times can you read about gold, gems, and techniques?)
• My favorite was the peacock egg, shown on page 37. the paragraph about it was on page 97.

 

 

 

Fabergé's Eggs: The Extraordinary Story of the Masterpieces That Outlived an Empire. (Toby Faber) Published 2008.

• I only read the intro because I have a lot of books to read right now! It was interesting - the author made it sound as though Fabergé wasn't really that big of a deal. But then he talks about how Fabergé products are made with exquisite quality.
• I went to the photos in the middle of the 241 page book (302 pages with acknowledgments, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index).
• The Fabergé Family Tree (Appendix 1) and the Full Listing of the Imperial Eggs (Appendix 2) were interesting. I'm fascinated by how many of the eggs' (or their "surprises") current location is unknown. Rife for treasure hunting indeed!

The Romanov children were not to blame for the tsar's leadership (or lack thereof). They were innocent victims, murdered with their parents in 1918.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabergé and the Russian Crafts Tradition. (Margaret Kelly Trombly) Published 2017. 

• This one was different in that it examined many different Russian crafts and not just the jeweler's work. It had lovely photos and lots of text that I only skimmed a little. 
• The closeups and details make this worth a look at! These pics are of the "Rose Trellis Egg."
  

 

 

Peter Carl Fabergé: Goldsmith and Jeweller to the Russian Imperial Court. His Life and Work. (Henry Charles Bainbridge, with a foreword by Sacheverell Sitwell) Published 1949, second impression 1967. 

• This book is not attractive. Either it never had a dust jacket or it has gotten lost over the decades.
• The text SOUNDS like a man wrote it over seventy years ago! In a way, it would be an interesting historical study as a piece of academic writing.
• The pictures that are included are all black and white. 
• It still has the "pocket" with 1967 on it in the back of the book.
  
• I barely spent any time on this one.

 

Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé. (Alexander von Solodkoff) Published 1984, this edition 1989.  

• I wish I had spent more time reading this one. The writing is clear, interesting, and has strong historical connections.
• The photos, both color and black white, are wonderful. 
• Forbes (and other wealthy collectors) leave me feeling more grateful than resentful. Using their wealth to accumulate and SHARE great beauty with others is better than just hoarding.
• Honestly, of the five books I've looked at so far, this is the first one I would consider getting again to read and examine thoroughly. It's incredibly beautiful and clearly written. It's also big and heavy! 
• In fact, although I had planned to return all eight books today, I'm going to renew this one and hang onto it a bit longer.

 

Fabergé: Imperial Jeweler. (Géza von Habsburg and Marina Lopato) Published 1993. 

• So many more historical photos! Buildings, people, drawings . . . 
• This is the book for history researchers.

 

Fabergé Revealed: at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (Géza von Habsburg) Published 2011. 

• Big, beautiful, lots of info and pieces. 
• Wonderful photographs

Fabergé and the Russian Master Goldsmiths. (Gerard Hill, editor) Published 1989. 

• Pity this is the last one I looked at. It had a whole section about Carl Fabergé and his life. 
• The photos are huge with lots of detail visible.
• The book is also the physically largest of the eight I got and it is heavy and awkward.
• If one wanted a gorgeous coffee table book, this might be the one.