18th Century Dyes and Dyeing

Last updated: Feb 25, 2024

Dyers at work

Frontispiece to Le Tenturier Parfait, 1708
Dyers by Christoph Weigel, 1711; also here
A valentine with a dyer
Of the Dyers, The parent’s and guardian’s directory, 1761
Teinturier en soie ou teinturier de riviére in Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1772
Dyers, an 18th century German etching

Eighteenth century dye recipes

Dictionarium Polygraphicum: Or, The Whole Body of Arts Regularly Digested (1735)
Commercium Philosophico-Technicum; or, the Philosophical Commerce of Arts: designed as an attempt to improve Arts, Trades, and Manufactures by William Lewis (1763)
Memoirs of Agriculture and other Oeconomical Arts by Robert Dossie (1768)
William Butt’s dye book (1768-1785)
Expériences Physiques et Chymiques, sur Plusieurs Matieres relatives au Commerce & aux Arts (1769); a French translation of the Commercium Philosophico-Technicum above
The Art of Tanning and of Currying Leather, With the Processes for Dying Leather Red and Yellow, As practiced in Turkey(1773)
Essai sur l’art de la Teinture by Henrik Teofilus Scheffer (1787); also here
Elements of Natural History and Chemistry by Antoine François de Fouroroy (1790)
Elements of the Art of Dyeing by M. Berthollet (1791); also here
Account of Russian Dyes (1792)
Encyclopædia Britannica: Dyeing (1797)
The Country Dyer’s Assistant by Asa Ellis, Jun. (1798)
The Laboratory; or, School of Arts (1799)
The Dyer’s Assistant in the art of dying wool and woollen goods by James Haigh (1800)