Colour in woven design: Being a treatise on the science and technology of textile colouring (woollen, worsted, cotton and silk materials)

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"Colour in woven design" by Roberts Beaumont is a technical treatise written in the early 20th century. It unites colour science with loom technology to show how to plan, balance, and apply colour across woollen, worsted, cotton, and silk fabrics, from mixtures and stripes to checks, figured and double weaves, and warp- or weft-coloured effects. Aimed at designers, manufacturers, and students, it combines theory, standards, and abundant illustrated examples to guide practical textile colouring.

The opening of the treatise sets the scope and purpose: to fill a gap between general colour theory and the practical needs of textile design, now expanded in a rewritten second edition with new illustrations and a chapter on colour standardization. After the transcriber’s notes and dedications, the prefaces explain the audience and plan, and the detailed contents map chapters from colour theory and harmony through mixtures, simple and compound colourings, special weaves, spotting, double weaves, and warp/weft-figured fabrics. The first chapter defines the three elements of woven pattern—weave, form, and colour—and shows how colour’s effect depends on fibre, fabric structure, and method of application (blends, warp/weft orders, extra yarns). It then introduces light and spectrum basics, prismatic experiments, and the distinction between mixing lights and pigments, identifies pigment primaries (red, yellow, blue) with their secondary and tertiary compounds, and explains the constants of colour (purity, luminosity, hue) and heat absorption. The start of the next chapter outlines the skills of a textile colourist, the role of pure colours as brighteners when carefully balanced, and begins a close study of red—its power, derivatives, and modification by black, white, and other hues for effective use as grounds and accents in woven designs.