For the Color Scholar: Out-of-Print Classics

The below is a list of notable out-of-print books in .pdf form. Each text has its own unique interpretation on color application, general theories, etc.

Source: Theory and Practice of Color

The oldest text of the group is Elementary Color (1895) written by Milton Bradley the same Bradley who is synonymously linked with The Game of Life, Candyland, and Battleship. This was not Bradley's first attempt into the forays of color. Prior to this publicaton he had addtionally authored Color in the Schoolroom and Color in the Kindergarten.

Faber Birren’s Selling With Color is a book that ...“ has been written to be of practical benefit to modern business, to assure the effective development of consumer products, merchandising, advertising, packages, displays”.

Regardless of when any of these were published, these texts still retain color standard information of which can still be found in practice today.

Colour Aesthetics: Combinations of Colors with Tints and with Shades
by F. Louis Barber (1900)

Selling with Color
by Faber Birren (1945)

Itten, The Elements of Color
Edited by Faber Birren (1961)

Elementary Color, 3rd Edition
by Milton Bradley (1895)

Goethe’s Theory of Colours
Translated by Charles Lock Eastlake (1982)

Color Balance Illustrated
An Introduction to the Munsell System
by A.H. Munsell (1919)

Color Notation
by A.H. Munsell (1913)

Theory and Practice of Color
by Bonnie E. Snow, Hugo B. Froehlich (1920)

Another Pinboard to Follow

Having resisted Pinterest for about a year now, I finally dipped my toes into the virtual pool of pinboards. My apprehension was truly misdirected and I've come to find that the concept of organizing visual images/links onto a virtual board has become a great teaching tool. After covering the typical graphic design topics such as typography, and history it was a natural move to include color among the related topics. So here is a link to my All Color Matters pinboard .

Purple for the Privileged

Murex Brandaris For centuries, the color purple was both an elusive and exclusive hue. From the time of Ceasar till the conclusion of the Byzantine Empire, purple was worn by kings and those serving in a high office or positions of influence. Rulers like Nero would sentence anyone to death who dared to wear imperial purple. The Roman emperor Diocletain however, took a more economical approach by collecting taxes from anyone who was compelled to slip on the hue. Up until the 1850’s, the arduous process of acquiring this color was more involved then its close cousin—red. Not unlike red, purple was also derived from the animal kingdom. Farmed from the Mediterranean region by the Phonecians as far back as 1500 B.C., Tyrian Purple came from the mucous secretion of a predatory sea snail’s hypobranchial gland ( murex brandaris , murex trunculus , bolinus brandaris ). The sea snails were soaked and then boiled in large vats which allowed the “juice” to be removed from the gland. It t...

Color and Design

Not a book for light reading, Color and Design will satisfy any design practitioner, or scholar seeking to gain a more expanded view of how humans respond to color. Editors Marilyn DeLong and Barbara have curated a selection of essays which are organized into subjects ranging from color psychology to marketing and trend influences. Since these are essays, the reader should not expect this book to offer a cultural analysis of primary/secondary colors nor an explanation of basic color theory. What the text does offer is specific examinations on various topics that center around sociological approach of how color is assimilated within a culture, its art, folklore and consumerism. Outwardly this can seem to be a real bore. I did however find a pearl or two that can potentially be assigned as required reading for my students. For example in Part III: Markets and Trends , I found an informative essay by Alex Bitterman ( Color the World: Identifying Color Trends in Contemporary Ci...

All Color Matters

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