In its original hardcover edition (1987), this remarkable book was the first comprehensive history of beads ever published. It includes several thousand examples of beads, beaded jewelry, and beadwork representing 30,000 years of history and drawn from every major culture and region of the world. Now largely unavailable in hardcover and still the most authoritative book on the subject, it is finally available in paperback at a very attractive price. For thousands of years, beads have played an important role throughout the world, from Japan to Cameroon. This highly unusual and innovative volume surveys the fascinating story of their evolution: beads have been used as a medium of trade, as talismans, as personal adornment, as status symbols, and as religious artifacts. They are capsules of cultural, historical, and technological information. This ambitious survey of beads and their unique contribution to history features more than 380 illustrations, most in full color, a spectacular illustrated time line of bead history, detailed maps, a chart of bead shapes, and a highly readable text by Lois Sherr Dubin.

Lois Sherr Dubin was trained as a landscape architect, and her international practice enabled her to travel widely and to obtain beads from numerous countries. She is also the author of North American Indian Jewelry and Adornment: From Prehistory to the Present. Dubin lives in New York City.