...organe de la teinture, de l'impression, du blanchiment, des apprêts, de la fabrication des produits chimiques, des papiers de fantaisie, de la droguerie, filature et du tissage ; organe de "la Société des Teinturiers" et de l'"Académie de Teinture" école supérieure de l'industrie tinctoriale, á Berlin… 

French edition of Reimann's Färber-Zeitung, the premier trade journal for dyeing and textile producers. Bound volume for the complete 1889 year, nos. 1-24, issued in pairs; viii + 280pp, with 12 printed plates for mounting samples interspersed. Quarto, bound in quarter red leather with marbled boards. Overall in Very Good condition with the conspicuous exception of page 62 and its facing sample plate (#3), which have been deliberately defaced with pink marker. Of the eight samples present on the page, only two are in the correct location; the others have been errantly glued out of place, which has also caused a hole in the facing page, just below the announcement of Michel Eugene Chevreul’s death. 

Whether it was an outburst from a grief-stricken dyer, such damage is fortunately limited to those pages. The fourth plate of samples has a minor tear to the facing page opposite a glued sample. Only one sample is missing from the other 11 panels–a twist of blue yarn meant to occupy spaces 11-12 on the sixth plate. A similar twist of yarn on the fifth plate has been re-secured with a pasted strip of Japanese paper. A few sparing pencil notations; pages a bit fragile with some instances of small snags/closed tears at the edges.

Reimann published Technologie des Anilins in 1866 and the English On Aniline and Its Derivatives in 1868 to respond to a lack of consistency in commercial dyeing, which had rapidly changed after William Henry Perkin discovered the use of coal tar as an agent for synthetic dyeing, accidentally inventing mauve in 1856. The ensuing aniline arms race amongst manufacturers vying for commercial dominance in local and international trade meant a rapid proliferation of chemical innovations that could be demonstrated in a lab, but lacked clear translation to the industrial scale. From Reimann’s preface in On Aniline and Its Derivatives (1868), “Nowhere do we find a plain statement of the methods of obtaining aniline and its derivatives nor a description of the apparatus actually in use in manufactories…” (v).

Reimann provided such guidance in his book, and in 1870 began Reimann's Färber-Zeitung to meet the ongoing demand. Initially issued monthly, it expanded to a bimonthly publication that covered printing and other means of decorative textile production, plus advertisements and trade notices. Simultaneous publication in French as Journal de Teinture began in 1872. This bound volume represents the complete issues for 1889. Incidentally, 1889 was also the year that "chroma" was introduced into the vocabulary of color theory by Albert Munsell as a measure of a color’s intensity. The necessity of new language to distinguish such a value is exemplified in many of these samples, like the “fluorescent rose” on the second panel, still bogglingly brilliant after 135 years. Rare in any state (or language) with remarkable color samples, and from a standout year in the history of color science.