Occasionally honored in certain colleges and chemistry clubs, Perkin until now has been a forgotten man. In a 'witty, erudite, and entertaining' (Esquire) style, Simon Garfield explains how the experimental mishap that produced an odd shade of purple revolutionized fashion, as well as industrial applications of chemistry research. In 1856 eighteen-year-old English chemist William Perkin accidentally discovered a way to mass-produce color.

Sir Charles Crookes, historian, physicist, spiritualist, and chemist (he trained under Hofmann, discovered the element thallium, and conducted important experiments on cathode rays and radiation), as portrayed in the play Square Rounds by Tony Harrison, first performed at the Naional Theatre in 1992 Like many a physical or chemical invention / pioneered by the British I could mention / Perkin's valuable synthetic dyes / which will always, for yours truly, symbolize / the magic of chemistry, Germans monopolize. If more of us in Britain had done work in / the process pioneered by William Perkin / we would not now as a nation still have to rely / on Germany for all synthetic dye. The coal tars of the Ruhr and Rhine / metamorphosed in industrial bulk into aniline.

William Perkin's ingenious transformation / could have benefited the British nation / But unfortunately Britain still relies / on Germany for all synthetic dyes. Those are the powers and forces that are needed / if the Western World is not to be superseded. It is infinitely satisfying / to see what was black dreck serve the art of dyeing. His transforming coal-tar into brilliant dyes / has come for me of late to symbolize / chemistry at its most profound and true / creating radiance out of basest residue. Like William Perkin I personally aspire / to metamorphose lower into higher. 'he delight of this book is seeing parallels to present-day trends.'-'New York Times Book Review … ( more) 'By bringing Perkin into the open and documenting his life and work, Garfield has done a service to history.'-Chicago Tribune 'n inviting cocktail of Perkin biography, account of the dye industry and where it led, and social and cultural history up to the present.'-American Scientist 'Garfield leaps gracefully back and forth in time, as comfortable in the Victorian past as he is in the brave new world of petrochemicals and biochemistry.'-Kirkus Reviews starred review.

Mauve by Simon Garfield