First of all, this is not an end-of-year book list, or a series of reviews, or even recommendations.
I just realized there seems to be a kind of mini-genre of books about the history of various pigments and colors, many of which are of interest in terms of artist’s pigments.
I haven’t read these, I’ve simply noticed them and selected a few that seem potentially relevant to artists. I’m only presenting them as a kind of FYI that they exist.
The capsule descriptions and reviews on Amazon should provide clues to those you might find interesting. Some are out of print, but appear to be available used.
Rarest Blue: The Remarkable Story Of An Ancient Color Lost To History And Rediscovered, 2012; Baruch Sterman
A Red Like No Other: How Cochineal Colored the World, 2015, edited by Carmella Padilla and Barbara Anderson
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire, 2006, by Amy Butler Greenfield
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World, 2002, Simon Garfield
The Brilliant History of Color in Art, 2014, by Victoria Finlay
Color: A Natural History of the Palette, 2002, by Victoria Finlay
Bright Earth: Art and the Invention of Color, 2003, by Phillip Ball
