Introduction

A monograph entitled Minerals from the Republic of Macedonia with an Introduction to Mineralogy fully comprises the conducted scientific investigations regarding the various collected mineral species from the Republic of Macedonia (78 species). In addition, it also provides full geological description of the localities where the specimens were collected from (66 localities). The monograph represents the first systematized, detailed study shedding light on the mineralogical, spectroscopic, structural and analytical aspects of the mineralogical wealth of R. Macedonia. To the best of our knowledge, the monograph is the first world book merging all these mineralogical features and country minerals’ localities. Therefore, its appearance was National interest since it reflects the mineralogical heritage of one country (R. Macedonia).

It represents important interdisciplinary material for the scientists and students in the fields of geology and mineralogy, crystal chemistry, vibrational spectroscopy, structural chemistry etc. In addition, the amateur mineralogists and mineral collectors found the book as very interesting and helpful.  

The monograph is fully written in English and printed in color on 664 pages (230×300 mm format). The text is combined and presented among 680 wonderful breath-taking mineral photos, 257 illustrations, 294 tables and 443 cited references. It summarizes the authors’ investigations carried out in the last 25 years published in 115 original scientific articles, more than half of them published in the most-prestigious impact factor journals.

The authors of the monograph are: Acad. Gligor Jovanovski (Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Skopje), Prof. Dr. Blažo Boev (Goce Delčev University, Faculty of Natural and Technical Sciences, Štip) and Prof. Dr. Petre Makreski (SS Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Institute of Chemistry, Skopje).

The photographs are taken by Robert Jankuloski (Audio Engineering Academy ESRA, Skopje) whereas the author of the design is Ladislav Cvetkovski (SS Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Skopje). The referees of the book are world well-established mineralogists: Prof. Dr. Igor Pekov (Faculty of Geology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow), Acad. Vladimir Bermanec (Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts; Faculty of Natural Sciences, Zagreb) and Prof. Dr. Risto Stojanov (SS Cyril and Methodius University, Faculty of Mining and Geology, Štip).

The monograph was promoted in November 2012. The publisher and co-publisher are Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Skenpoint, AD, Skopje, respectively.