Red: The History of a Color Hardcover – February 14, 2017 by Michel Pastoureau (Princeton University Press)

Another entry in Pastoreau's series on colors (his books cover Black, White, Red, Green, Blue, etc.), this one is another winner, not to be missed. I first found out about this series from The New York Review of Books, which was reviewing "Green." After I read the article and understood what these books are about, I immediately ordered "Green," and found it to be incredible. Pastoureau weaves a sociological history of each color through the millennia, explaining and presenting how the color has been used, appropriated, employed and, perhaps, abused, at different historical epochs. Adding to that, these books are richly and beautifully illustrated with ultra-high-quality prints that supplement the text. So, people do refer to these books as "coffee table" books, and they certainly are that, due to their beauty, but the scholarship and readability of the text make them so much more than that.

The problem I ran into was that, as soon as I was finished with "Green," I went to buy the other colors, and they were all out of print! Some used copies were in circulation for about $200, if I remember correctly, and it was so sad that I could not get the other colors from the set. Hooray, they are now back in print from Princeton Press, and--get this--the "Red" and "Blue" books are actually printed IN FRANCE. If you have never seen a high-quality French print, you're in for a treat, because they are amazing. And, to boot, both "Red" and "Blue" are running only at about 25 dollars, which is a STEAL for a genuine, full-color, "Made in France" text.

If you are at all interested in art or history, I say, "Run, Don't Walk," to get "Blue" and "Red" before they go out of print. "Green" is also fantastic (although printed in China, but still a very good quality book and print) work, so then you have R-G-B, and then round with "White" and "Black," also still available. If you are a photographer, you might want to look in Pastoureau's more expensive book "Chroma," which deals with the use of colors in photography. But for sheer pleasure and education, "Red," "Blue," and "Green" are simply amazing, fun, educational, and unusual volumes!!