A Nomenclature of Colors
RIDGWAY, Robert. A Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists, and Compendium of Useful Knowledge for Ornithologists. 129, [1] pp. Illustrated with 17 plates, 10 of which are hand-coloured. 8vo, bound in publisher's green cloth. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1886.
A fine copy of Ridyway's extremely scarce first book on colour. Ridgway was the first full-time curator of birds at the United States National Museum where he developed his system, which was one of the first and most important colour systems for bird identification. He later expanded it in his classic Color Standards and Nomenclature. Both books are rare, but the early version is extremely so. His works have endured, and everyone from stamp collectors to naturalists to chemists refers to 'Ridgway colors' to identify specific shades. A clipped inscription from Ridgway to Dr. Coues, presumably the ornithologist Elliott Coues, is affixed to the first blank.
Item nr. 143787
Price:
$4,750.00