MORE THAN HER FILMS, philanthropy and amethyst-coloured eyes, Elizabeth Taylor's love affairs have been the focus of an enormous amount of media attention over the years. And while constancy has never been her calling card - she has been married eight times, twice to Richard Burton - Taylor has remained faithful to one passion: jewellery.

From her first purchase - a pin for her mother at age 12 - to her last big buy, a Prince of Wales diamond brooch auctioned by the estate of Wallis Simpson in 1987 ('I knew my friend the Duchess wanted me to have it'), Taylor has always been a sucker for a bit of sparkle. When she launched her collection of fragrances in the 1980s, she named them after a girl's best friends: White Diamonds, Black Pearls, Diamonds and Emeralds, Diamonds and Rubies, Diamonds and Sapphires . . . you get the idea.

Only the real thing - and lots of it - makes the cut in her new coffee table book, Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry. Launched to coincide with an exhibition at Christie's in New York (the auction house's head of jewellery, Francois Curiel, writes the introduction), the book is a tribute to one of the most impressive private collections in the world. The work is hardly heady reading. Chapters include 'Really And Truly My First Piece Of Jewelry - and I Bought It' and 'My Baby: 33 Carats And Growing'. But the well-executed, catalogue-type pictures, rare period photographs and random reminiscences are sure to be winners with fans, jewellery buffs and Rupert Everett types.

The act of giving - and receiving - is a leitmotif of Taylor's book. From Burton she received the famous La Peregrina pearl (once worn by Mary Tudor of England, and almost eaten by Taylor's beloved pekinese), the 400-year-old Shah Jahan diamond necklace and the ice-rink-sized Krupp diamond - so named because it had been owned by Vera Krupp of the German munitions family. 'When it came up for auction in the late 1960s, I thought how perfect it would be if a nice Jewish girl like me were to own it,' Taylor recalls.

Trite? Definitely. But then who can resist anecdotes about co-star Rex Harrison ('I said, 'You're the stingiest man alive. That way, your giving me this pin would be doubly important because it would signify a triumph over your naturally stingy nature' '), surrogate mother and costume designer Edith Head ('Edith and I both loved Jack Daniels, so when she came home we would have a big glass of Jack Daniels together') and 'precious friend' Michael Jackson?

The latter, who has developed a tic for giving Taylor menagerie-inspired pieces, can attest to Taylor's own capacity for generosity. To thank Jackson for hosting her wedding to Larry Fortensky at the Neverland ranch, Taylor bought him a big, Asian elephant named Gypsy for his personal zoo. 'I guess you could say we exchanged elephants,' she concludes.

These and other gems fill page after glossy page, with the occasional words of wisdom. In one particularly existential passage, the 70-year-old star confesses: 'I don't believe I own any of the pieces. I believe that I am their custodian, here to enjoy them, to give them the best treatment in the world, to watch over their safety, and to love them. And they give their love back to me . . . When I die and they go off to auction I hope whoever buys them gives them a really good home.'