Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours

Werner's Nomenclature of Colors is essentially the Pantone system of the early 19th century—a standardized color reference guide that let naturalists, artists, and scientists speak the same chromatic language before photography or digital color matching existed.

What it actually is: A systematic catalog matching color swatches to examples found in the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Each entry shows the color chip alongside references like "the neck of a mallard drake" or "the blue of a forget-me-not" or "the breast of a nuthatch."

Why it mattered: When Darwin sailed on the Beagle, he carried a copy. If he wanted to describe a bird to someone back in England, he could write "Arterial Blood Red" and his correspondent could look up that exact shade. It was a shared vocabulary for visual experience—a semiotic bridge across distance and time.

The poetic dimension: The naming itself is remarkable. Rather than hex codes or numerical values, you get language like "Skimmed Milk White" and "Dutch Orange." The descriptions anchor abstraction in the tangible world. Think of it as a gorgeous artifact of pre-industrial knowledge work—when precision required poetic specificity rather than algorithmic notation.

Why I love it: I'm drawn to washed colors—the muted palette of the desert, the beauty of patina, the honesty of surfaces that have been touched by time and use. Colors that have faded, softened, earned their character. Werner's catalog captures something of that sensibility: colors named not for their factory-fresh intensity but for their presence in the living world, where light and age do their quiet work.