LA Bantam - Colour Description - ISCC-NBS Method

Whether as part of a formal bibliographic description or in a dealer's catalogue adequately describing a book's colours is always a challenge. The obvious problem with a written description is that the words are likely to be interpreted differently by everyone reading the description. The Internet combined with simple scanning and printing technology has made the job potentially easier but hasn't solved the problem completely. Different scanners, printers and screens will reproduce colours differently.

The solution is to use a standard vocabulary of colours that is understandable and accessible. There is one that has been recommended - the Inter-Society Color Council-National Bureau of Standards (ISCC-NBS) method. This method divides colours into ranges designated by 28 hue names - red, orange, violet etc. The hue names are then modified indicating variation in lightness (value) or saturation (chroma). The result is 267 colour blocks. These can be further subdivided up to 5 million colours. Here is a useful site that provides examples of the blocks and a more detailed description of the method.

Each block is identified by a name and number so a colour can be easily designated and referenced. I'll use a LA Bantam book to demonstrate. In earlier posts I've described the book below as green/tan but I've seen what I've called tan described as orange and yellow. Using the colour block method the colours become light orange yellow (70) and strong yellowish green (131). The cover was scanned on an HP scanjet 2200c which is nearly ten years old and on my screen both colours do not match exactly with the book. The strong yellowish green is close but the light orange yellow is darker and redder on the screen and the actual colour is not well reproduced. Reference to the colour block would eliminate confusion as to the correct colours.