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Amazon.co.uk Review
Mauve? Not the butchest of colours perhaps; you might be forgiven for wondering whether, if a Longitude-style book had to be written about hues, Red, Blue or Yellow might not be the place to start instead. But Garfield has chosen his colour well: mauve and its 19th-century inventor William Perkin constitute a fascinating story. This book convincingly argues that Perkin's invention of this chemical dye became a major turning point in the history of Western science and industry. Purple had always been a royal colour, in part because it was so difficult (and hence expensive) to achieve a good shade out of the animal, mineral or plant raw materials from which all dyes were derived; it took 17,000 dried and crushed cactus insects to make one ounce of cochineal. Perkin found a cheap way to produce a synthetic purple; he made a fortune and prompted a craze for the colour in the fashion industry of his day. But more than this, Garfield argues, he kick-started chemistry from being a gentleman-amateur pastime into becoming the major world industry it is today. Mauve (the Victorians pronounced it "morv", apparently) really did change the world. Just as Perkins's colour was something wholly new, Garfield's Mauve represents a new sort of book, a more varied synthesis than the run-of-the-mill animal, mineral or plant books. In part it is a biography, in part a social and cultural history, and partly it is a meditation on the roles chemistry (and colour) play in our world. It even manages to function as a primer in inorganic chemistry. Garfield achieves this last without being either baffling or condescending; he breaks us in gently to the subject of, for instance, benzene rings by relating Friedrich Kekule's 1858 dream, dozing in front of the fire, "gambolling atoms in snake-like motion, one of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail: his benzene structure consisted of six carbon atoms, each attached to a hydrogen atom C6H6". The model for this integration of chemistry into everyday life is taken from the period itself--at one point we're told that "William Perkins Jnr wrote again, enquiring about the atomic structures of various synthetic perfumes and wishing his father a happy birthday". Presumably in that order. Garfield's book draws you into this world of dyes and dyers; the reader emerges a little mauver than when they started. --Adam Roberts --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'This remarkable book about how the colour was discovered opened my eyes... Garfield's study is far more than a social history of fashion. It is a book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art.' Daily Telegraph
Many of the great scientific discoveries happen by chance: think of Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin. So it was with William Perkin and the colour mauve. Perkin, in 1856 an 18 year old student of chemistry, was struggling to make artifical quinine (a malarial cure) for his mentor August Hofmann. As part of his method, he applied two processes - distillation and oxydisation - to aniline, a product of coal tar. The result was the beautiful purplish substance that became known as mauve. Showing a remarkable degree of business acumen, Perkin realised it would make an excellent dye, and set about perfecting a method of manufacture and finding customers - no mean feat, since the substance was expensive to produce and most owners of dye works were uninterested. Perkin persevered, and within a couple of years, every woman in fashionable society was wearing mauve. At the age of only 20, he had made his fortune. As Garfield shows, however, the story has implications far beyond one man's success. Before mauve, dyes were formed from natural substances; after, they were made in the laboratory. Huge factories produced all sorts of new and beautiful colours, making vast sums of money for British industrialists. Mauveis a story about many things: the development of chemistry; the weakness in British industry as Germany poured money into dye research and became the largest dye manufacturer in the world during the war, people's clothes were drab, not because of austerity, but because no dyes were available; even a history of fashion as mauve's popularity waxed and waned. All set in motion by one man - until now one of the forgotten heroes of Victorian science. Garfield's fascinating book reminds us exactly how much we owe to him. (Kirkus UK)
See all Product Description
Mauve? Not the butchest of colours perhaps; you might be forgiven for wondering whether, if a Longitude-style book had to be written about hues, Red, Blue or Yellow might not be the place to start instead. But Garfield has chosen his colour well: mauve and its 19th-century inventor William Perkin constitute a fascinating story. This book convincingly argues that Perkin's invention of this chemical dye became a major turning point in the history of Western science and industry. Purple had always been a royal colour, in part because it was so difficult (and hence expensive) to achieve a good shade out of the animal, mineral or plant raw materials from which all dyes were derived; it took 17,000 dried and crushed cactus insects to make one ounce of cochineal. Perkin found a cheap way to produce a synthetic purple; he made a fortune and prompted a craze for the colour in the fashion industry of his day. But more than this, Garfield argues, he kick-started chemistry from being a gentleman-amateur pastime into becoming the major world industry it is today. Mauve (the Victorians pronounced it "morv", apparently) really did change the world. Just as Perkins's colour was something wholly new, Garfield's Mauve represents a new sort of book, a more varied synthesis than the run-of-the-mill animal, mineral or plant books. In part it is a biography, in part a social and cultural history, and partly it is a meditation on the roles chemistry (and colour) play in our world. It even manages to function as a primer in inorganic chemistry. Garfield achieves this last without being either baffling or condescending; he breaks us in gently to the subject of, for instance, benzene rings by relating Friedrich Kekule's 1858 dream, dozing in front of the fire, "gambolling atoms in snake-like motion, one of the snakes had seized hold of its own tail: his benzene structure consisted of six carbon atoms, each attached to a hydrogen atom C6H6". The model for this integration of chemistry into everyday life is taken from the period itself--at one point we're told that "William Perkins Jnr wrote again, enquiring about the atomic structures of various synthetic perfumes and wishing his father a happy birthday". Presumably in that order. Garfield's book draws you into this world of dyes and dyers; the reader emerges a little mauver than when they started. --Adam Roberts --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'This remarkable book about how the colour was discovered opened my eyes... Garfield's study is far more than a social history of fashion. It is a book about science which also happens to be a miniature work of art.' Daily Telegraph
Many of the great scientific discoveries happen by chance: think of Alexander Fleming and his discovery of penicillin. So it was with William Perkin and the colour mauve. Perkin, in 1856 an 18 year old student of chemistry, was struggling to make artifical quinine (a malarial cure) for his mentor August Hofmann. As part of his method, he applied two processes - distillation and oxydisation - to aniline, a product of coal tar. The result was the beautiful purplish substance that became known as mauve. Showing a remarkable degree of business acumen, Perkin realised it would make an excellent dye, and set about perfecting a method of manufacture and finding customers - no mean feat, since the substance was expensive to produce and most owners of dye works were uninterested. Perkin persevered, and within a couple of years, every woman in fashionable society was wearing mauve. At the age of only 20, he had made his fortune. As Garfield shows, however, the story has implications far beyond one man's success. Before mauve, dyes were formed from natural substances; after, they were made in the laboratory. Huge factories produced all sorts of new and beautiful colours, making vast sums of money for British industrialists. Mauveis a story about many things: the development of chemistry; the weakness in British industry as Germany poured money into dye research and became the largest dye manufacturer in the world during the war, people's clothes were drab, not because of austerity, but because no dyes were available; even a history of fashion as mauve's popularity waxed and waned. All set in motion by one man - until now one of the forgotten heroes of Victorian science. Garfield's fascinating book reminds us exactly how much we owe to him. (Kirkus UK)
See all Product Description
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81% buy the item featured on this page: Mauve: How One Man Invented a Colour That Changed the World £5.39 |
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5% buy Colour: The Story of Dyes and Pigments (New Horizons S.)£6.26 |
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4% buy A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage and the Quest for the Colour of Desire £5.99 |
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