Skip to main content
  • Book
  • © 2001

Colouring Textiles

A History of Natural Dyestuffs in Industrial Europe

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science (BSPS, volume 217)

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check for access.

Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxv
  2. Natural Dyestuffs and the Kingdoms of Nature

    • Agustí Nieto-Galan
    Pages 1-41
  3. Artisans and Artists in Dyeing and Printing

    • Agustí Nieto-Galan
    Pages 153-180
  4. Back Matter

    Pages 205-246

About this book

Colouring Textiles is an attempt to provide a new cross-cultural comparative approach to the art of dyeing and printing with natural dyestuffs in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Divided into thematic chapters, it uncovers new data from the vast historical heritage of natural dyestuffs from a range of European cities, to present new historiographic insights for the understanding of this technology. Through a sort of anatomic dissection, the book explores the study and cultivation of dye-plants in botanical gardens and plantations, and the tacit values hidden in dyeing workshops, factories, laboratories, or national and international exhibitions. It metaphorically submits the natural dyestuffs of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to a series of systematic historical tests, and traces back the circulation of those sources of colours through colonial spaces, dye works, cross-cultural networks, schools of artistic design, and science-based industries for the making of synthetic colorants.
Colouring Textiles contributes to a better understanding of the role of natural dyestuffs in the processes of industrialization in Western Europe.
Audience: Historians of science and technology, historians of chemistry, philosophers, economic historians, professional chemists, arts and crafts historians, and cultural anthropologists.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Spain

    Agustí Nieto-Galan

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access