Wavelengths of light between 400 and 700 nm on the electromagnetic spectrum are known as visible light, or light that can be processed and seen by the human eye. The result? What we know as color! This digital collection features a broad selection of materials related to color. This includes the scientific study of color – colorimetry and color theory – as well as the science and practice of applying color via dyeing or painting. Browse sample books containing rainbows of dyed fabrics, instruments used to study color phenomena, interviews with scientists with firsthand experience in the pigments and dye industries, and more!
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Diagrams from observation of colors visible in Muscovy glass and other thin bodies
- 1665
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.…
- Author Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703
- Printer Martyn, J., Allestry, J.
- Subject Scientific illustration, Muscovite--Analysis, Natural history, Microscopy, Magnifying glasses, Color, Muscovite, Microscopes
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Portrait of William Salmon
- 1671 (date of portrait plate)
- 1685 (date of publication)
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…
- Author Salmon, William, 1644-1713
- Engraver Sherwin, William
- Publisher Printed for Thomas Passinger at the Three Bibles on London Bridge and Thomas Sawbridge at the Three Flower de Luces in Little-Brittain
- Subject Art metal-work, Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800, Drawing--Technique, Palmistry, Materia medica--Early works to 1800, Salmon, William, 1644-1713, Herbs--Therapeutic use, Workshop recipes, Perfumes, Dyes and dyeing, Portrait painting--Technique, Formulas, recipes, etc.--Early works to 1800, Painting--Technique, Cosmetics, Pharmacy--Early works to 1800, Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Medicine, Popular, Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Herbs, Beauty, Personal, Sherwin, William, Art--Early works to 1800, Herbals
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Engraved title page from William Salmon's Polygraphice
- 1685 (date of publication)
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…
- Author Salmon, William, 1644-1713
- Engraver Sherwin, William
- Publisher Printed for Thomas Passinger at the Three Bibles on London Bridge and Thomas Sawbridge at the Three Flower de Luces in Little-Brittain
- Subject Art metal-work, Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800, Drawing--Technique, Palmistry, Materia medica--Early works to 1800, Salmon, William, 1644-1713, Herbs--Therapeutic use, Workshop recipes, Perfumes, Dyes and dyeing, Apelles, Beauty, Personal, Painting--Technique, Cosmetics, Pharmacy--Early works to 1800, Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Medicine, Popular, Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Herbals, Portrait painting--Technique, Formulas, recipes, etc.--Early works to 1800, Zeuxis, active 5th century B.C., Sherwin, William, Art--Early works to 1800, Herbs
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45 items
Polygraphice, or, the Arts of Drawing, Engraving, Etching, Limning, Painting, Washing, Varnishing, Gilding, Colouring, Dying, Beautifying and Perfuming
- 1685 (date of publication)
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…
- Author Salmon, William, 1644-1713
- Engraver Hove, Frederick Hendrick van, 1628?-1698, Cross, Thomas, Sherwin, William
- Publisher Printed for Thomas Passinger at the Three Bibles on London Bridge and Thomas Sawbridge at the Three Flower de Luces in Little-Brittain
- Subject Art metal-work, Botany, Medical--Early works to 1800, Drawing--Technique, Palmistry, Materia medica--Early works to 1800, Salmon, William, 1644-1713, Herbs--Therapeutic use, Workshop recipes, Perfumes, Dyes and dyeing, Portrait painting--Technique, Beauty, Personal, Painting--Technique, Cosmetics, Pharmacy--Early works to 1800, Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions, Medicine, Popular, Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Herbs, Formulas, recipes, etc.--Early works to 1800, Art--Early works to 1800, Herbals
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28 items
Tratado Instructivo, y Práctico Sobre el Arte de la Tintura
- Instructive and Practical Treatise on the Art of Dyeing
- 1778
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…
- Author Fernández, Don Luis
- Printer Imprenta de Blas Roman
- Contributor de la Cruz, Juan
- Subject Dyes and dyeing, Industrial arts, Dyes and dyeing--Textile fibers, Dye industry, Coloring matter, Copperplates
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201 items
An Essay on Combustion : With a View to a New Art of Dying and Painting
- The Phlogistic and Antiphlogistic Hypotheses are Proved Erroneous
- 1794
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…
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26 items
Extraordinary Facts Relating to the Vision of Colours: With Observations
- 1794
Author John Dalton outlines his own red-green color blindness discovered through botanical studies of flower hues. Blank endpapers omitted during digitization.
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3 items
Handwritten letter by Giovanni Antonio Giobert
- 1812-Aug-16
Letter in French from Giovanni Antonio Giobert (1761-1834), an Italian chemist and mineralogist after whom the mineral giobertite has been named, to Count Chanteloup. Dated August 16, 1812, the letter concerns a sample…
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144 items
The Practical Dyer's Guide
- A Treatise on the Art of Padding
- 1849
"Comprising practical instructions in the dyeing of shot cobourgs, silk striped orleans, colored orleans from black warps, ditto from white warps, colored cobourgs from white warps, merinos, yarns, woollen cloths, &c.;…
- Author Smith, David, active 1850-1886
- Publisher Simpkin, Marshall, and Co.
- Subject Color in the textile industries, Dyes and dyeing
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Portrait of William Crookes as Hofmann's assistant
- 1850 (Date of sitting)
- 1923 (Date of publication)
Half-length photographic portrait of William Crookes seated next to a table containing a scientific instrument. Taken at age 18 when Crookes was August Wilhelm von Hofmann's assistant.
Plate from the biography of Sir…
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52 items
Greene Family Account Book
- 1855 – 1876
Notebook containing dyed yarn samples and corresponding handwritten dye recipes.
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174 items
Dyer's account book, Volume 1
- After 1855-Nov-29 – before 1864-Nov-10
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.…
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239 items
Dyer's account book, Volume 2
- After 1855-Nov-29 – before 1864-Nov-10
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.…
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5 items
Italian Dyer's Notebook
- Autograph Manuscript
- Circa 1856 – circa 1866
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,…
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Plate XIII: Decomposition of Light/Structure of the Solar Rays
- 1856
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…
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Portrait of William Crookes, age 24
- 1856 (Date of sitting)
- 1923 (Date of publication)
Half-length photographic portrait of William Crookes taken in 1856, when sitter was 24 years old.
Plate from the biography of Sir William Crookes, a British chemist and physicist known for his work on spectroscopy. He…
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76 items
Der Bildungstrieb der Stoffe
- 1858
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…
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2 items
Barlow's Indigo Blue dye
- 1860s
Cardboard box which at one time contained two dozen, wooden dye containers sealed with paper labels. Each contained an indigo fabric dye puck.
Indigo is among the oldest dyes to be used for textile dyeing and printing.…
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72 items
Lectures on Coal Tar Colours and on Recent Improvements and Progress in Dyeing and Calico Printing
- Embodying Copious Notes Taken at the Last London International Exhibition and Illustrated with Numberous Patterns of Fabrics Dyed with Aniline and Other Colours
- 1860s
Frederick Crace Calvert (1819–1873) was a professor of chemistry at the Royal Institution, Manchester. From 1835 to 1846 he lived in France, studying chemistry under the chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul (1786-1889), who…
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28 items
Des couleurs et de leurs applications aux arts industriels à l'aide des cercles chromatiques
- Of Colors and of their Applications in the Industrial Arts with the Help of Chromatic Circles
- 1864
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…
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing
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Plate I: Couleurs d'un spectre solaire
- Colors of the Solar Spectrum
- 1864
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…
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Engraver Digeon, René Henri
- Printer Of Plates Lamoureux
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing
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Plate II: Gamme des tons bleus
- Scale of blue tones
- 1864
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…
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Engraver Digeon, René Henri
- Printer Of Plates Lamoureux
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing
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Plate III: Zône circulaire dont les couleurs sont continues
- Circular zone of continuous colors
- 1864
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…
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Engraver Digeon, René Henri
- Printer Of Plates Lamoureux
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing
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Plate IV: Zone circulaire divisée en 72 parties égales
- Circular zone divided into 72 equal parts
- 1864
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…
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Engraver Digeon, René Henri
- Printer Of Plates Lamoureux
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing
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Plate IX: Cinquième cercle chromatique
- Fifth chromatic circle
- 1864
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.
- Author Chevreul, M. E. (Michel Eugène), 1786-1889
- Engraver Digeon, René Henri
- Printer Of Plates Lamoureux
- Publisher J.-B. Baillière et fils
- Subject Color--Terminology, Color separation, Colors, Color printing