Engravings from Schem. VI of the first edition of Robert Hooke's seminal volume, Micrographia : or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon.…

Engraved portrait frontispiece of author William Salmon depicts the bust of Salmon inside a vignetted frame that reads in Latin "Ætatis SuÆ 26 Anno 1670 Guilielmus Salmon Medicinae Professor," which roughly translates…

Engraved title page is illustrated with two male figures standing on a pedestal with their names Zeuxis, a 5th century BC Greek painter, and Apelles, a 4th century BC Greek painter, found on the pedestal. They stand…

The most popular of William Salmon's numerous books, the title page refers to 25 plates within whereas other copies are also missing plates 3 and 10, as is the case with this particular copy. Select digitized content…

A Spanish manual on the theory and practice of dyeing in the textile industry in late eighteenth-century Madrid. The text discusses the treatment of silks, wools, and yarns; the preparation of the textiles; and the…

Elizabeth Fulhame was an early British chemist who invented the concept of catalysis and discovered photoreduction. Fulhame’s interest was in the reduction reaction that led to the deposition of metals. As she notes in…

Author John Dalton outlines his own red-green color blindness discovered through botanical studies of flower hues. Blank endpapers omitted during digitization.

The first of two highly legible British dyer's account journals. The journal lists recipes and the costs for materials used in the process of dyeing many kinds of cloth, "gum china blue," "sumac," "peachwood," etc.…

The first of two highly legible British dyer's account journals. The journal lists recipes and the costs for materials used in the process of dyeing many kinds of cloth, "gum china blue," "sumac," "peachwood," etc.…

This warped and worn nineteenth-century Italian manuscript appears to be a working manual and color inventory of a wool dyer in mid-nineteenth-century Italy. The handwritten entries are dated between 1856 and 1866,…

Color plate depicts the decomposition structure of solar rays. Light passes through a prism illustrating the color composition of solar rays.

This plate comes from the Chemical Atlas; or, The Chemistry of Familiar…

Early examples of paper chromatography from German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who is considered to be the originator of the analytic technique. Runge investigated the color reactions of various chemical…

Michel Eugène Chevreul’s Des couleurs presents the French chemist’s color classification system distinguishing 14,400 hues and tones. The book’s plates, illustrating various tonal scales and color wheels, were produced…

Inscribed: "Couleurs d’un spectre solaire produit par un prisme de sulfure de carbone comparées aux types du premier cercle chromatique de Mr. E. Chevreul."

The plate indicates colors from Chevreul’s "first chromatic…

Inscribed: "Manière dont Mr. Chevreul conçoit qu'une couleur qui est indéfinie en allant du blanc au noir est distinguée en parties définies qu'il appelle tons."

Chevreul presents the gamut of a pure color—blue—from…

Inscribed: "Zône circulaire dont les couleurs sont continues. On la suppose formée d’une reunion de zônes excessivement étroites et contigues parmi lesquelles il en est trois qui sont a des distances égales, RR, JJ, et…

Inscribed: "C’est la Planche 3 divisée en 72 parties égales avec cette condition que les zônes représentant le rouge, le jaune et le bleu, partagent en deux moities les trois parties où elles se trouvent."

This plate…

Inscribed: "5ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 4/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s fifth chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 4/10 black.

Inscribed: "1er cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs franches."

Chevreul’s first chromatic circle shows 72 colors in their purest hues.

Inscribed: "2ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 1/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s second chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 1/10 black.

Inscribed: "3ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 2/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s third chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 2/10 black.

Inscribed: "4ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 3/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s fourth chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 3/10 black.

Inscribed: "6ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 5/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s sixth chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 5/10 black.

Inscribed: "7ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 6/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s seventh chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 6/10 black.

Inscribed: "8ème cercle chromatique de Mr. Chevreul renfermant les couleurs rabattues, à 7/10 de noir."

Chevreul’s eighth chromatic circle shows the 72 pure hues from Plate V subdued with 7/10 black.