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Werner's Nomenclature of Colours

Posted: August 25, 2018
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours
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Werner's Nomenclature of Colours sounds like some stuffy science book a German guy wrote in 1814.

Oh hey! It is a stuffy science book a German guy wrote in 1814. Except maybe not so stuffy if you too are a scientist, or an artist who could benefit from browsing a taxonomic guide to the colors of the natural world. This edition of Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts has gotten a fresh print run and more modern cover for 2018, but is otherwise a facsimile of the original. Which is what exactly, you ask?

Abraham Gottlob Werner was a mineralogist who used minerals to create a standardized color scheme for describing all colors and shades thereof, down to the smallest chromatic variations, with consistent terminology. Drawing from Werner's work, Scottish painter Patrick Syme used the minerals to paint the color charts included in Werner's Nomenclature of Colours. Syme added some additional examples from nature - flowers, plants, animals - to enhance the project.

Remember, this was a time before snapping photos with your smartphone or sucking up color with a Cube digitizer existed, so part of the beauty of Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is that Werner and Syme developed a system for communicating color with language, putting the essence of hundreds of reds, blues, and yellows into words. The handbook became a standard carry for many naturalists and anthropologists, including Charles Darwin.

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