The Principles of Beauty in Colour Systematized

Illustrated with 14 plates of colour samples with a total of 86 paint samples. 8vo., iv, 72, 8 pp of advertisements. 200 x 140 mm, bound dos-a-dos, an unusual but useful publisher's binding of gilt stamped ivory coloured cloth in which the text is bound to the front board, the plates to that back, so one can view the plates and read the text at the same time. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1845. First Edition. An unusual work on the colour theory by David Ramsay Hay (1798-1866), author of numerous works on the subject and a decorator to Queen Victoria. Hay relates the harmony of colour with that of sound and proceeds with explanations on aesthetics and the nature and relation of colors and contrasting colours and his own new system of chromatic harmony. The latter is demonstrated with a series 14 examples, 13 of which consist of six different coloured samples arranged in a hexagonal pattern. The result is a strikingly modern design. Binding with a little light wear, overall a fine copy with the samples still in bright condition. Birren Collection 30. Scarce book, dedicated to David Roberts, and with the ownership signature of art historian Meyer Schapiro.…