Christian Friedrich Prangens Farbenlexicon, Worinn die möglichsten Farben der Natur nicht nur nach ihren Eigenschaften, Benennungen, Verhältnissen und Zusammensetzungen sondern auch durch die wirkliche Ausmahlung enthalten sind.Zum Gebrauch für Naturforsc

First and only edition of this rare and quite remarkable work, notable especially for its 4608 individually named and prepared color samples, each with its recipe. The history of color naming systems goes back at least to the seventeenth century. Important early work was done by Isaac Newton, J. C. LeBlon, Tobias Meyer, and Moses Harris, but Prange’s Farbenlexicon seems to be generally unknown, at least by the major historians of color who write in English. The full title translates, approximately, as “Color dictionary, wherein all possible natural colors are classified not only according to their natural properties, nomenclature, relationships, and composition but also by means of actual painted samples. In addition, a work practical for naturalists, painters, manufacturers, artists, and all other handicraft workers all of whom have to do with color.”