In 1692 an artist known only as A. Boogert sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolors. Not only would he begin the book with a bit about the use of color in painting, but would go on to explain how to create certain hues and change the tone by adding one, two, or three parts of water. The premise sounds simple enough, but the final product is almost unfathomable in its detail and scope.

Spanning nearly 800 completely handwritten (and painted) pages, Trait des couleurs servant la peinture leau , was probably the most comprehensive guide to paint and color of its time. According to Medieval book historian Erik Kwakkel who translated part of the introduction, the color book was intended as an educational guide. The irony being there was only a single copy that was probably seen by very few eyes.

Its hard not to compare the hundreds of pages of color to its contemporary equivalent, the Pantone Color Guide , which wouldnt be published for the first time until 1963 .

The entire book is viewable in high resolution here , and you can read a description of it here (it appears E-Corpus might have crashed for the moment). The book is currently kept at the Bibliothque Mjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. (via Erik Kwakkel )

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updated by @leopoldina: 06 Oct 2016 06:29:01AM

Considering the printing techniques of the time, it's not surprising that there is only one copy of this book.

It's been making the rounds of the internet this week which is very cool. After 300+ years it's getting some well deserved time in the sun

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Proprietress of Tatiana's Tea Room ~ Owner of the Provence Coeur Estate ~ Webmistress of this site

Yeah

This is fascinating! Thank you.