The Book of Colour Concepts

The earliest forms of human creativity—carvings, markings, and cave paintings—bear witness to humanity's engagement with colour. Almost as old as these examples is the desire to assign structure, order, and meaning to this universal yet elusive concept. It is this fascination that unites the works compiled in this expansive edition.

Gathering over 65 rare books and manuscripts from a wealth of institutions, including the most distinguished colour collections worldwide, The Book of Colour Concepts takes the reader on a chromatic odyssey across four centuries and over 1,000 images of luscious wheels and globes, painstakingly collated charts, and meticulous diagrams, many of them newly photographed exclusively for this edition. Some of these concepts provide exhaustive taxonomies of colour, while others reflect upon the relationship of colour and music, or the affinities between colour and human emotions.

Seminal works of colour theory, such as Isaac Newton's Opticks and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's hugely significant Zur Farbenlehre, are shown alongside rare and unfamiliar contributions, including the theosophical colour systems of Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant, the comprehensive colour 'dictionary' of Aloys John Maerz and Morris Rea Paul, and the patchwork combinations of the Japanese costume designer and artist Sanzo Wada.

The two volumes also bring many intriguing and often overlooked works by women into the spotlight, including the radically inventive colour "blots" of the English flower painter Mary Gartside and a botanical notebook by the pioneering spiritualist Hilma af Klint.

The colour systems that make up this edition are contextualised by introductory essays from editor Alexandra Loske and co-author Sarah Lowengard, while authoritative texts from the editor on the works reproduced set out each concept in further detail. Illuminating the history of colour in all its shapes and forms, The Book of Colour Concepts offers a chromatic chronology unparalleled in scope.