Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours;Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
£20.10£21.80 (-8%)
Read & Co. presents this new edition of Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours. First published in 1814, this small volume comprises a collection of 110 swatches displaying nature’s colour palette together with their poetical descriptions.
In the 18th century, German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner set out to establish a standard reference guide to colour for use in the general sciences. Scottish flower painter Patrick Syme later enhanced and extended Werner’s work to include all of the most common colours or tints that appear in nature, with each colour swatch accompanied by examples from the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms.
The resulting work was used by many scientists, explorers and anthropologists to further their studies, including Charles Darwin during his time on the HMS Beagle. Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours is considered the predecessor of modern systems such as Pantone and has even inspired heritage paint ranges from the likes of Dulux and Farrow & Ball.
Read & Co. is republishing this beautiful little volume in a new facsimile edition and has taken great care to reproduce the original text and art for a new generation of artists and scientists.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Art Meets Science (11 Mar. 2020) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Hardcover | 82 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1528717058 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1528717052 |
| Dimensions | 15.24 x 0.97 x 22.86 cm |
by TG
Not the book pictured, nor even a nicely printed edition, but a low resolution print to order amazon copy on poor qualty paper. Very disappointed, although the book remains a classic. So, depends what you are after I guess. It was not what I expected, as an edition, from the images or description.
by Robbie
I read many of the reviews here and noted the criticisms levelled at the quality of the colours and how they don’t seem to match the descriptions. I agree entirely, the colours shown are faded or fugitive; however, if you read the publisher’s notes it is made pretty clear there that the book is intended to be a close facsimile of the original in its current state. If the colours as printed seem off, it is because they have faded over time, lost their lustre through oxidation, or just gone fugitive in the original book. So the book is an accurate reproduction, not a renovation! In my opinion, therefore, the book is pretty wonderful in bringing to us today a masterpiece of definition and categorisation at what is an impressively low price. So actually, well done Natural History Museum! Top marks.
And yet, I am left with a puzzle. What we need perhaps is an academic project to recreate the colour palettes as they might originally have existed but using either current non fugitive colours, or more or less fugitive colours together with formulaic recipes to enable such a reproduction. For my part, I shall have a stab at it with some decent watercolours just for the hell of it 🙂
by Captain Pea
It’s nice to have this reproduction of a book used by Darwin and the method used to describe the colours is quaintly charming. But the colour reproduction is rather poor in parts; the book is oversized with much wasted margin space and unnecessarily large print. It would have been nice to have it pocket sized to take on field expeditions – but only if the colours were truer to the original – and you CAN find it reproduced online with better colours. I am now inspired to print and bind my own my own version. So I do like having this in my collection – at least at the ÂŁ4.20 from agreatread, which was a great price for a new book.
by Santa’s Little Helper
Introduced to this book by a friend in my writing group whose description made me want to own a copy of my own. Hopefully the descriptions of the colours will find their place in my own writings.
by Zandradee
The description promises 110 swatches. Only 43 are visible in this version.
by Claire Franny
It was ok but… and someone please correct me if I’m wrong but the last section on Browns has me completely muddled up. Mainly the mention of ‘clove brown’ and its unexplained change to ‘olive brown’ which has no mention in the last section on the list of colours changed from Werner’s arrangement… it just jumps from one to the other.. I am more than happy to research it further but surely a book dedicated to Werner’s Nomenclature should have all the information. Preface was short and interesting but could have had more depth to it.
by Amazon Customer
Great informative tead
by cb
I’m looking forward to reading this book, but I think the colour charts would have benefitted from cream coloured paper – as the strip on the cover.