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"The author of this volume is the longtime coeditor of the scholarly journal, Victorian Literature and Culture, and during her research of the highly successful book, Queen Victoria's Secrets, she became curious about the proliferation of print material on diamonds around the time of Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The result is this book-a fascinating, accessible, and illustrated exploration of the various ways Victorian writers wrote about diamonds and the evolution of the cultural significance of these gems. The volume begins in 1849 when the famous Koh-i-noor diamond was transferred from the Punjab in India to Victoria, Queen of the British Empire. The political significance was obvious. Diamonds were a symbol of political power--only for the very rich and powerful. But, with Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the idea of owning a diamond began to be marketed to the middle class. In all kinds of writings, diamonds began to take on an affordable romance. Mining of diamonds in India, South Africa, and other British colonies grew, with all the attendant commerce, conflicts, prejudices, and exploitations of the people of color who mined the diamonds and the stereotyping of the Dutch Jews who cut and sold them. By examining the literature, journalism, advertisements, and other printed sources, Munich presents a sweeping, vivid, and dazzling account of the source and development of our ongoing love affair with diamonds"--
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