The Amazing Watercolor Book
If you’ve ever painted a room in your house, you’re probably familiar with Pantone. Pantone is a color guide system where literally thousands (2,100 altogether) of colors are arranged on cards in order to compare and contrast them so you can decide what color of paint to get. This portable color library makes it easy to pick between Rhubarb, Syrah, and Pomegranate (all shades of red).
Pantone is ubiquitous in its usage, but did you know that the Pantone system was actually preceded by a handwritten and handpainted book published more than 300 years ago? The book, entitled Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l’eau, was written by an artist known as “A. Boogert.” He wrote the 800-page book in Dutch, and in it he described how to mix watercolors to get a huge range of colors across the visible spectrum. In the introduction, Boogert stated that the book’s purpose was to serve as an educational guide. The book, which is housed at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in France, is the only copy in existence.
Get a taste of some of the colors here or you can view the entire book online here.
Advantage Book Binding has been in the book binding business since 1985, when we were founded on the principle “we do a quality book on time.” Since then we’ve seen plenty of changes both in and out of the industry. While some have sounded the death knell for books and other physical media, we believe that the fact that we continue to be an industry leader into the 21st century is a testament not only to our longevity as a company but to that of our craft. We think it’s important to keep books and physical media on the shelves, which is why we dedicate ourselves to providing you with the highest quality book binding and post press services available.
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Sources
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/05/color-book/
http://www.pantone.com/pages/products/product.aspx?pid=67&ca=4&s=1
