Dear Catherine,
    You may wish to start with one of the earliest references - Pliny the
Elder's "Natural History" Books XXXVI and XXXVII, it may still be available
from the Loeb Classical Library, Harvard Univ. some other works are:
    Kunz, George F.  The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, J.B. Lippincott &
Co., Philadelphia, 1913 or the Dover paper-back reprint of 1971,
    King, Charles W.  The Natural History of Precious Stones and of the
Precious Metals, Bell & Daldy, London, 1870
    Fobes, Harriet K.  Mystic Gems, Richard G. Badger Pub., Boston, 1924.
    Renton, Edward  Intaglio Engraving, Past and Present, George Bell & Sons,
London, 1896.
    There are works on ancient lapidary work, such as
    Buhler, Hans-Peter,  Antike Gefasse aus Edelstein, Verlag Phillip von
Zabern, Mainz, 1973
    Khouli. Ali-El  Egyptian Stone Vessels Predynastic Period to Dynast III,
Typology and Analysis, 3 Volumes, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1978.
    There are lots of others, if you need more, let me know and I will see
what I could find.
    Hope this helps.
Russell