8vo., twentieth-century red cloth with gilt-lettered black label and gilt library shelfmark to spine, pp. 8 (publisher’s advertisements), [4], 72, with 40 hand-coloured plates illustrating Hay’s colour theory. First edition, extremely rare. Ex library, with usual markings (inc. library shelfmark to heel), small stamps to the versos of the plates, foxing to pages, spine slant, otherwise a very good, tight and bright copy, the plates still bright, with minimal discoloration to a few of the plates. David Ramsay Hay (1798-1866) was a Scottish artist, interior decorator and colour theorist. He decorated Hollyrood House for Queen Victoria and assisted Walter Scott with the decoration of Abbotsford. He is best known for his theories about colour and colour harmonies, propounded and beautifully illustrated in this book.
