1612
Maps to colour yourself
William Hole's engraved maps for the poem Poly-Olbion were printed uncoloured in 1612 and 1622, and hand-colouring them yourself became fashionable among nobles, the Guardian reported.
Date a pageStart
WHAT THE COLLECTIONS SHOW
Older than
the crayon.
Colouring in began with paint, and with grown-ups.
Long before crayons, people bought uncoloured engravings to finish by hand with watercolours. Museum and library collections trace a line from 17th-century maps to the mass-produced children's books of the 1880s.
400 YEARSof colouring in
Date a pageKeep in mind
- Maps came first
- Then flowers
- Then children
- The colouring book in three steps
THE SHORT ANSWER
Maps, flowers,
then children.
Each step made colouring cheaper and easier,
until it became a children's pastime.
1760
A book of flowers to paint
The Florist, printed in London around 1760, held 60 plates of flowers with instructions for painting each one in its natural colours. A copy sits in the Missouri Botanical Garden library.
Lessons from old books
1880
Then came the children's book
The Strong National Museum of Play credits The Little Folks Painting Book, published by McLoughlin Brothers, as the first mass-produced colouring book.
See the numbersA QUICK HISTORY CHECK
When is this
page from?
Pick a kind of colouring page to see roughly when it appeared. The bar shows how long ago that was.
Dates from the Guardian, Hyperallergic and The Strong National Museum of Play. Accounts differ slightly on some dates, for example 1879 or 1880.
TWO NUMBERS WORTH KNOWING
A long history
in a few pages.
One number for how old the habit is,
one for the size of an early colouring book.
400+ years
How long adults have coloured printed pages
The Guardian traced adult colouring back more than 400 years, to Hole's maps of 1612. Hand-colouring stayed popular until full-colour printing took over in the 19th century.
AGE · THE GUARDIAN
60 plates
Flower engravings in The Florist (c. 1760)
From a peony to an iris. The copy found at the Missouri Botanical Garden was almost unused, with only one plate showing a smear of green.
PLATES · HYPERALLERGIC
Early colouring books were made for paint. The Strong notes that crayons, produced commercially from the late 19th century, were less messy and more portable.
FOUR LESSONS FROM OLD BOOKS
Colour like
it is 1760.
Early colouring books came with their own ideas about how to colour. A few are still worth borrowing.
Step 1
Try paint, not just crayons
The first books were meant for watercolours. A small paint box gives soft washes that wax crayons cannot.
Step 2
Layer your colour
The Florist started each flower with a strong layer of one colour, then shaded it with a mix, building depth slowly.
Step 3
Look at the real thing
Its instructions followed nature's colours. Colour a flower with the actual flower, or a photo, beside you.
Step 4
Practise the hand
In 1622 Henry Peacham advised colouring for practice, saying the hand speedily instructs the mind and confirms the memory.
FROM SCHOOLROOM TO TOY SHOP
Learning first,
fun later.
According to The Strong, early colouring books often featured letters of the alphabet, numbers and other educational themes. Over the years they moved towards more playful pictures.
The Little Folks Painting Book opened by promising a cheap, interesting and sensible book of pictures for children to try their skill at painting, and its success inspired other children's publishers to follow.
Questions
Questions on the way
What was the first colouring book?
It depends on what counts. The Strong National Museum of Play names The Little Folks Painting Book (1880) as the first mass-produced one. Earlier books for adults to colour include The Florist (c. 1760) and the Poly-Olbion maps (1612 and 1622).
Were early colouring books for children?
Not at first. The Poly-Olbion maps were coloured by nobles, and The Florist was written for the use and amusement of gentlemen and ladies. Children's colouring books arrived in the 19th century.
What did people colour with before crayons?
Paint. The early books were meant for watercolours, and The Florist gave detailed instructions for mixing pigments such as carmine, Prussian blue and sap green.
When did crayons take over?
The Strong says crayons produced commercially from the late 19th and early 20th centuries gave children a less messy and more portable way to colour.
Are adult colouring books new?
No. The Guardian traced adult colouring back more than 400 years, and in 1622 Henry Peacham was already recommending colouring as practice for the hand and memory.
Destination
Where the facts come from
- The Strong National Museum of Play: Color Me Happy
- The Guardian (2016): 17th-century adult colouring-in book ready for modern hues
- Hyperallergic (2017): An 18th-century botanical coloring book for adults
- Open Culture: The very first coloring book, The Little Folks' Painting Book (circa 1879)
Updated