Although feldspar makes up more than half of the Earth's outer crust, it plays a rather minor role in many mineral collections. Quite unjustly, as this monograph demonstrates.
 With few exceptions, the crystals are not always spectacular in color and often lack exceptional transparency or luster. However, the ubiquitous feldspars are usually formed as textbook-perfect, sharp-edged crystals. Besides interesting twinning and fascinating gemstones—including moonstone, labradorite, and sunstone—feldspars, in association with gemstone minerals, constitute highly sought-after collector specimens.


 Contents:
 Feldspar Deposits: From the Upper Palatinate to the Giant Mountains (Berthold Ottens)/Sanidine from the Drachenfels (Berthold Ottens)/Pericline and Adularia from the Alps (Stefan Weiß)/The Wanderings of the Large Adularia Specimen from Piz Starlera (Michael Wachtler)/Baveno - A Classic Orthoclase Deposit on Lake Maggiore (Federico Pezzotta, translated by Berthold Ottens)/Amazonite from Oikes Peak, Colorado (Berthold Ottens)/Image Gallery - The Most Beautiful Feldspar Specimens and Crystals/The Great Feldspar Dictionary (Rupert Hochleitner and Berthold Ottens)/Chemistry, Structure & Properties (Berthold Ottens and Michael Huber)/A Staining Method Brings Clarity! (Stefan Weiß)/Feldspar - the twin-loving mineral (Berthold Ottens)/Amazonite from Ethiopia (Herbert Kaiser)/Dazzling worlds - Feldspars as gemstones (Ulrich Henn & Berthold Ottens)/Without feldspar, no porcelain - and no glass either (Berthold Ottens)/Spectacular feldspars from nature's laboratories (Federico Pezzotta, translated by Berthold Ottens)/Hyalophan from Bosnia-Herzegovina - particularly interesting twins (Mirjan Zorz, translated by Berthold Ottens)/Feldspar representatives - Foide (Rupert Hochleitner)
 Published: 2006