A Grammar of Color.
Mittineague, MA: Strathmore Paper Company, 1921. Large quarto. 28pp., (39)ff. A sample book of variously colored cover papers from the famed Strathmore Paper Company. Each of the nineteen sample papers is a fold-out leaf printed with measured color areas arranged according to the Munsell System, a complex color-coding system that charts the relationships between colors based on the attributes of hue, chroma, and value. "With this system in mind it is as easy to understand color relations as to understand musical relations on the written score," observes the system's creator, A.H. Munsell, in his Introduction. The book also contains an illustration by Vogue cover artist Helen Dryden, engraved by Rudolph Ruzicka, that is used to show the difference between "balanced color" and "unbalanced color." The paper samples are preceded by short discussions of color balance and unbalance, as well as a technical description of the Munsell System with illustrations and diagrams. Bound in paper-covered boards backed in red cloth. Title label to front cover, gilt lettering to spine. The book has been covered in a heavy, textured brown paper that may have been added by a previous owner, as the title is hand lettered on both sides of the spine in different colors and sizes. Minor foxing to preliminary pages, particularly the gutter of one spread; paper samples fine. Accompanied by an extra suite of twenty-seven colored paper samples each bearing a cut-out oval that can be placed over areas of sample papers in the book to determine proper color combinations. Extra suite housed in a paper portfolio, one side of which bears a printed explanation of the contents within an ornamental border. Portfolio worn through at three corners, extra suite of paper samples fine. Item #31739
Price: $750.00