Wiener Farbenkabinet oder vollstaendiges Musterbuch aller Natur- Grund

1794. SCHOENFELD, Johann Ferdinand von. Wiener Farbenkabinet oder vollstaendiges Musterbuch aller Natur- Grund- und Zusammensetzungfarben. 2 volumes. Vol 1: 272 pp., followed by 34 plates and accompanying caption on subsequent leaf; vol 2. 158, [30] pp., followed by 62 plates and accompanying caption on subsequent leaf. 4tos, ca. 247 x 198 mm, bound in contemporary cloth-backed boards, blue labels. Vienna/Prague: Verlag der Schoenfeldschen Handlung, 1794. First edition of this vast, and extremely rare, illustrated survey on colouring and dying - with 4,608 different colour samples shown, each named and numbered: the work was intended for artists, portrait-painters, miniature-painters, craftsmen, and printers; it was an invaluable and practical guide for dyeing and colouring silk, wool, leather, fur, paper, wood, and more. The Wiener Farbenkabinet is a tremendous achievement in the graphic arts: each plate bears colour-specimens on 48 tipped on colour samples (55 x 7 mm) for which the exact formula (or ratio) for the creation of each colour specimen is given on the opposing page; these ratios are invaluable to any art historian or conservator. The presentation of the Wiener Farbenkabinet is alarmingly modern: the gradations and hues flow perfectly from upper left to lower right. We know of no early work on colour which is as useful and extensive as the Wiener Farbenkabinet. Of great rarity, with OCLC listing just 4 copies in America, at the Smithsonian, the National Gallery, Princeton and Yale, 6 other copies worldwide. At least three of these have fewer plates than our copy. Some neat ex-library markings, otherwise in very good condition. The Book of Colour Concepts 116.