Rating: 4 out of 5

I chose to read this book because of a conversation in the office at the beginning of the year about colours, and about words for colours specifically. After having listened to a few podcasts and read a few articles about this topic I realised that I didn’t know much else about colours really either. This book was mentioned on one of the podcasts I think and so decided that it would be a good place to start.

It’s kind of travelogue meets history meets art history. Each colour related chapter focusses on how the dye/paint evolved. Stories abound about how some of the most famous artists, Turner is the example I can remember, didn’t necessarily consider the longevity of the colour of the paints they chose. So, some of the grey moody skies may well have been sunrise/sunset artefacts but the pink/orange/red has chemically deteriorated to leave grey/black.

My only negative comment really is that it could have been a bit shorter. At times it felt like a bit of a battle rather than a complete enjoyment.

Overall though, if you’re interested in colours, paint or dye, then it’s a good book to get some background.

Highlighted passages:

special ink for legal documents: it is designed to last for many generations, and has the unusual quality of growing darker with age. It comes from the Central Registry Office and it arrives in an inkpot, not in catridges.

England and Spain had signed a peace treaty in 1667 - with the Spanish granting trading rights in return for the British suppressing piracy. This made the Caribbean safer, but had the side effect of putting large numbers of pirates out of work. Without much in the way of savings or pensions plans - not everyone had a treasure map with a cross marking the spot - these newly redundant buccaneers were doing what they could to make ends meet. One of the best get-rich-quick schemes of the day was collecting logwood - the newly trendy black dye, much in demand in Europe

sepia, the dark liquor secreted by cuttlefish when they are afraid

Amber has the curious characteristic of attracting dust to it when it is rubbed vigorously. The Greek called it ‘electron’, and from that we get our modern word ‘electricity’

They have to be played every day, so that they remain violins rather than reverting to their natural state of being pieces of wood. An unplayed instrument quickly loses its ability to vibrate properly: after a major restoration it takes a month or more to return to concert standard; rather like the musician who plays it, it has to practice regularly.

people still use malachite green today (to get rid of mould on goldfish, although it has the rather unfortunate effect of leaving them as greenish for a while).

Originally posted to my Goodreads account