Mauve. How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World

Garfield, Simon

ISBN 10: 0571201970 / ISBN 13: 9780571201976

Published by Faber and Faber Ltd, London, 2000

About this Item

First edition, first impression with full number line. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, WITHOUT DEDICATION, ON TITLE PAGE. Some very slight edge wear to top of jacket and spine, slight yellowing to page block, not price clipped (£9.99), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg++ copy, looks unopened, unread. 222pp, illustrated. An artificial dye, mauve, was discovered by a 19th century chemist called William Perkin while searching for a synthetic alternative to natural quinine. This book examines how the different worlds of fashion, industry, business, chemistry and medicine were transformed by a single colour.

Seller Inventory # 004021

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mauve. How One Man Invented a Colour that Changed the World
• Publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd, London
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0571201970
• ISBN 13: 9780571201976
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jacket by Pentagram
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis

An artificial dye, mauve, was discovered by a 19th-century chemist called William Perkin while searching for a synthetic alternative to natural quinine. This book examines how the different worlds of fashion, industry, business, chemistry and medicine were transformed by a single colour.

Review

In 1856, while trying to synthesize artificial quinine, 18-year-old chemistry student William Perkin instead produced a murky residue. Fifty years later, he described the event: he "was about to throw a certain residue away when I thought it might be interesting. The solution of it resulted in a strangely beautiful color." Perkin had stumbled across the world's first aniline dye, a color that became known as mauve.

"So what?" you might say. "A teenager invented a new color." As Simon Garfield admirably points out in Mauve, the color really did change the world. Before Perkin's discovery all the dyes and paints were colored by roots, leaves, insects, or, in the case of purple, mollusks. As a result, colors were inconsistent and unpredictably strong, often fading or washing out. Perkin found a dye that would always produce a uniform shade--and he pointed the way to other synthetic colors, thus revolutionizing the world of both dyemaking and fashion. Mauve became all the rage. Queen Victoria wore it to her daughter's wedding in 1858, and the highly influential Empress Eugénie decided the color matched her eyes. Soon, the streets of London erupted in what one wag called the "mauve measles."

Mauve had a much wider impact as well. By finding a commercial use for his discovery--much to the dismay of his teacher, the great August Hofmann, who believed there needed to be a separation between "pure" and "applied" science--Perkin inspired others to follow in his footsteps: "Ten years after Perkin's discovery of mauve, organic chemistry was perceived as being exciting, profitable, and of great practical use." The influx of bright young men all hoping to earn their fortunes through industrial applications of chemistry later brought significant advances in the fields of medicine, perfume, photography, and even explosives. Through it all, Garfield tells his story in clever, witty prose, turning this odd little tale into a very entertaining read. --Sunny Delaney