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  • The use of analine dyes in microscopy, Paul Ehrlich
  • Dyeing: dyers' and fullers' mills for extracting plant dyes. Coloured engraving by J. Pass.
  • A skeleton gentleman at a ball asks a skeleton lady to dance; representing the effect of arsenical dyes and pigments in clothing and accessories. Wood engraving, 1862.
  • Two men preparing dye for fabric. Watercolour by an Indian painter.
  • Opuntia humifusa Raf. Cactaceae Eastern prickly pear, Indian fig. Distribution: Eastern North America. Stearns (1801) reports 'OPUNTIA a species of cactus. The fruit is called the prickly pear. If eaten it turns the urine and milk in women's breast red'. This is likely to be Opuntia robusta. The ripe fruits are reported edible, raw, and the leaf pads also, either raw or cooked. The fine spines, glochids, cause severe skin irritation so should be wiped off or burnt off prior to cooking and eating. Moerman (1998) reports that O. hemifusa was widely used by Native American tribes for wounds, burns, snakebite, warts (fruit), and as a mordant for dyes used on leather. Widely used, with the spines removed, as a famine food, and dried for winter use. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Opuntia humifusa Raf. Cactaceae Eastern prickly pear, Indian fig. Distribution: Eastern North America. Stearns (1801) reports 'OPUNTIA a species of cactus. The fruit is called the prickly pear. If eaten it turns the urine and milk in women's breast red'. This is likely to be Opuntia robusta. The ripe fruits are reported edible, raw, and the leaf pads also, either raw or cooked. The fine spines, glochids, cause severe skin irritation so should be wiped off or burnt off prior to cooking and eating. Moerman (1998) reports that O. hemifusa was widely used by Native American tribes for wounds, burns, snakebite, warts (fruit), and as a mordant for dyes used on leather. Widely used, with the spines removed, as a famine food, and dried for winter use. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, three workmen in a textile dyeing workshop (top), a basket and bucket (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Two Indian men: (left) seated, cutting green produce to shape, and (right) carrying a red bag and two bottles of fluid (ink? dye?). Gouache painting by an Indian artist.
  • Men dyeing cotton blue and red. Coloured lithograph after J.R. Barfoot.
  • A man is dipping cloth into a large dyeing vat. Coloured lithograph.
  • Buckingham's Dye for the whiskers ... : Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer will restore gray or faded hair to its original color as in youth ... / R.P. Hall & Co.
  • Buckingham's Dye for the whiskers ... : Hall's Vegetable Sicilian Hair Renewer will restore gray or faded hair to its original color as in youth ... / R.P. Hall & Co.
  • Dyeing: vats and cauldrons for extracting indigo. Coloured engraving by J. Pass.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, two boilers (top), washing (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Reseda lutea L. Resedaceae Wild Mignonette. Dyers Rocket. Herbaceous plant. Distribution: Eurasia and North Africa. This plant, and in particular R. luteola, is the source of 'weld' a yellow dye from luteolin a flavonoid in the sap. It is said to have been used since the first millennium BC, but curiously Dioscorides, Lyte, Gerard, Lobel, Fuchs, Coles, Quincy, Linnaeus (1782) either do not mention it or make it synonymous with Eruca, Rocket, and make no reference to it as a dye source. The name Resedo means 'I sit up' in Latin, which Stearn (1994) interprets as 'I heal' which makes its absence even more strange. It is noted as the dye source by Bentley (1861). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, a vat and other utensils for indigo. Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, three vats in an interior (top), equipment (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, three workmen in a drying room (top), equipment (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • A Chinese silk manufactory: workers dyeing and winding the silk. Engraving by G. Paterson, 1843, after T. Allom.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, two vats (top), a wringer and other tools (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Xanthorhiza simplicissima Marshall Ranunculaceae. Yellow root. Distribution: North America, where it was discovered by the plant collector and explorer William Bartram in 1773. Austin (2004) reports that of the Native Americans, the Cherokee use the crushed plant to make a yellow dye
  • Textiles: silk dyeing, several vats and barrels (top), a large lead [?] tank (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, a furnace (top), fuel wood on a barrow or handcart (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Dianella tasmanica Hook.f. Phormiaceae Tasman flax lily. Distribution: Australia. A pretty plant, but also a source of fine fibre. The leaves are used for making baskets and the berries as a dye source. No medicinal use found, but the fruit is an irritant
  • Xanthorhiza simplicissima Marshall Ranunculaceae. Yellow root. Distribution: North America, where it was discovered by the plant collector and explorer William Bartram in 1773. Yellow-root. Austin (2004) reports that of the Native Americans, the Cherokee use the crushed plant to make a yellow dye
  • Textiles: silk dyeing, washing cloth in a river (top), a spar used for winding silk thread (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Textiles: dyeing, two workmen sponging cloth dry (top), two workmen hanging cloth out on a drying rack (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • Textiles: silk dyeing, a drying-rack above a stove with a man swaying the rack (top), details (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.
  • A silk dyeing factory with smoking chimneys; advertising John Pullar & Son, silk dyer and scourer at Perth, Scotland. Engraving by W.H. Lizars.
  • Textiles: tapestry dyeing, a vat in an interior with dyers at work (top), washing cloth in a river (below). Engraving by R. Benard after Radel.