Benzidine Colours

FANCY SHADES WITH COAL DUST

Bayer is a German pharmaceutical company known today for its aspirin, but it began in 1863 as a manufacturer of synthetic dyes made from fossil fuels like benzene and coal tar, which were increasingly available in the mid 19th-century. When Penn State's Senior Book Conservator William Minter was preparing this volume for exhibition, he noted that the pages were covered in coal dust, which is often the case for books that have been used in environments heated with coal. He agreed to leave some of the coal dust visible on this page as a means of illustrating the larger material and environmental context in which coal tar colors were produced. The term "fancy shades" on this page indicates that multiple synthetic dyes were combined in a single dyebath to produce each vibrant hue. 

— Written by Sarah K. Rich (Art History, Center for Virtual/Material Studies)
 
Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedrich Bayer & Co. 
Benzidine Colours and Other Substantive Dyestuffs and their Application for the Dyeing of Cotton and other Vegetable Fibres 
Elberfeld: Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co., 1908-
Purchased with funds from the Allison-Shelley Fund, 2020