COLOUR NOMENCLATURE.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13597, 4 December 1909, Page 5

COLOUR NOMENCLATURE.

TO THE EDITOR OY •■JUK PRfcSS.'' Sir,—For many years the Royal Horticultural Society nas been win routed with tlio -lnii-uny ot describing exactly the colour of any particular (10-cr, in terms u'uich snail Le distinctly and uehniu-iy nuciii-u.|o iv New York and i'uri., L.-rim and Queoec. etc., a. m London. UJS a difficulty ..iare.l by all who have, in any way, or at auy tinit*, to represent colour iv words. We determine-, ilieieiore, to endeavour to establish an International code by winch anyone, anywhere, could colivev to anyone else, at a distance of time or place, exactly and precisely tiie colour and shaUe he is .-peaking; of. With thi.. end in view, we search*d for a good colour-chart, and have been successful in finding an excellent one containing ys.ii) colours between white and black, witn the name of each in French, -Spanish, German, English, and Italian, together wuh four shades of each of tiie -U.I) colours, so that anyone wishing to describe- to a friend at Calcutta tho exact colour and shade of a flower or a silk or a painting, need only to refer to tin* colour-chart number, quoting, if ior '*apncot," e.g.. page 33, shade 3; or ii lor 'rosy-pink,-" p. 118, shade -1. and so on. The cost of production of so beautifully printed and so largo a chart was, of course, very heavy, and it wns i&sued at one guinea net; but our Society, by adopting it as an International standard, and purchasing a very largo number of copies from the publisher, is able to supply it to our Fellows and others at Ms (3d, or if by post, IGs 6d. My excuse for asking for space in your valuable journal to make tbi.s widely known is the manifest utility which would accrue to everyone all the world over if this chart were adopted universally as a standard of colour nomenclature, not only (as it will be) for flowers, but also "for all trado. and commercial purposes which relate in any way to colour. How very vague, for example, are most people's ideas of tlio .istinetion between purple, crimson, and mauve, and how often is the word "carmine" used as an easy method of solving tiie difficulty without conveying any definite notion as to what colour exactly is meant. It would make it quite easy for mercers and drapers to match any goods for customers' at a distance. In fact, if once we could establish this chart as an International colour reference, its subsequent uso would develop in all directions. I need hardly say that our Society has no pecuniary interest in the matter whatever.—Yours, etc., W. WILKS. Secretary, Royal Horticultural Society. Westminster, London, October o.