A Practical Treatise on Dying Woollen, Cotton, and Silk. Including recipes for Lac Redsa dn Scarlets - Chrome Yellows and Oranges - and Prussian Blues - On Silkes, Cottons and Woollens

New York: Published by the Author, 1834. 8vo. 190 x 120 mm., (7 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches). viii, 9-179 pp. Original cloth boards, rebacked with cloth, remnants of original spine laid down. Light foxing throughout. With faults a good, sound copy. Second edition originally published in New York by H. Wallis in 1823 which included information on British practices. In the self-published edition of 1834 Partridge remove much of this material and focused more on the extraction of colors from wood, the chemistry of scouring and dyeing, and color preparation. The first 40 pages of the book describe in detail the methods and materials used in scouring raw wool and cotton to ensure that all oils and natural elements are removed and cleansed out. The next 100 pages are devoted to dyes. Partridge discusses in detail the which natural materials produce colors pigments, how to make the extractions, and finally how to mix the extracts with solvents and oils to create a color that will fix when applied to textile material. The final part of the book has to do with preparing silks and cotton and some variations on the techniques for producing and fixing colors. A notice on the verso of the title-page reads, "The author informs Manufacturers and Dyers, that he is at all times willing and desirous to give any information and recipes, that may be in his power, respecting the manufacture of woollens and dying, free of cost." In addition to writing and publishing his Practical Treatise, William Partridge was a textile dyer and seller who also built a business in NYC that imported and extracted pigments from wood sources, which was to become one of the largest of its kind on the East Coast before the Civil War. American Imprints 26133. Rink 1864 for the 1823 edition. See C. R. Delaney, "The Real American Dyestuff Industry", Journal of the American Leather Chemists Association, Chemical Publishing Co., Easton, PA Volume XIV, 1919. (378).