An illustration from Poems Via the Author, Third Series, Political (1888).  The caption reads: "But here you shall more secrets gain, / And never need be fooled again. ... Explanation of the Colours."

Here are the most colorful three lines of dialogue possible.  The scene involves a couple planning a holiday.  Reggie B. yearns for the ocean, but Em is a hydrophobic.  We join them as Reggie B. hesitatingly hands Em a surfing brochure:

Reggie B: [pleadingly] Sea, Em?

Em: [exasperated over Reggie B.'s insensitivity to her irrational fear of water] Why?

Reggie B. [acquiescing, though aqua-effing under his breath] 'Kay.

We abbreviate the title of the dialogue as CMYK, and we do believe it covers the entire spectrum.

We're tickled that a photo of our rainbow bookshelves illustrates these sentences in an English lesson: "My bookcase is a mess.  I need to sort out my books."

Thanks to Gordon Meyer (of Smart Home Hacks fame), who for years has stocked our minimalist coloring book (complete with white crayon) at Quimby's bookstore.  Here's a photo of Gordon's presentation:

"It's this October softening the burning sun that fills the air with a new element, an element like a great melted pearl, through which you see everything." —John Cowper Powys, Porius

Did we ever mention that our color palette "Moonlit Black Swan" is featured on page 166 of Color Inspirations?

"It struck me that it was different in colour": a black-and-white illustration from The Quiver, 1879.

"Poems come in two colors: grey and beige (ecru having been killed off a few years back)."
—Geof Huth

Try not to think about the purple elephant with green stripes.  This specimen was accidentally colorized by Google's scanning machine.  From McClure's magazine, 1904.  The "moire" the merrier!

"The pace of time depends on how it was lived; the present is black and white while the memory is blue."
—Gian Enzo Sperone: Torino-Roma-New York, 2000.

[For Jeff.]

"Golden sunshine, golden wine, golden hair, golden coin.  There is a magic charm in yellow, m'sieur.  Ah, but there is.  I know.  Red is bewitching; it is daring, inspiring.  But yellow—it enthuses, tantalizes, lulls."
—Izola L. Forrester, "The Yellow Domino," The Idler (1904)

We love this unspoken rainbow in Bananarama's song "Waterfall":


Similarly:

"You’ve painted time with an unspoken rainbow of gold." —T. Rue

In an amazing coincidence (or was it a coincidence?) our tech wizard friend Gordon (of Smart Home Hacks fame) sent us, without explanation, magic beads that turn color in sunlight -- an unspoken rainbow if we ever heard/saw one!  (See photo below.)

Meanwhile, did you know that "colored stripes of some description" is a Googlewhack?  For that matter, so is "mysterious colors in the air."

In a letter to historian and mocker of superstition William Harnett Blanch, the illumined Oscar Wilde wrote, "I love superstitions.  They are the colour element of thought and imagination  They are the opponents of common sense.  Common sense is the enemy of romance.  The aim of your society [a club serving 13 courses, with ladders to walk under, mirrors to break, black cats, and so forth] seems to be dreadful.  Leave us some unreality" (qtd. in Phil Baker's biography of Austin Osman Spare).

Gordon spotted our Minimalist Coloring Book at Chicago's Quimby's Bookstore, sitting next to The Penny Man.  The pairing is apropos, as minimalists surely have to watch their pennies.

An illustration from a 1910 issue of Hampton's magazine.  The caption reads: "Who can ever doubt the magic potency of black?"

"In the most blessed, the most beautiful state the human race can attain[,] [e]ach one of us would grow in a different way, no one would be like anyone else, everyone would be a crystal, would think and feel in different colours and images, would love and hate differently, as the spirit within wants us to.  It must have been Satan himself, the enemy of all colorful diversity, who thought up the slogan that all men are equal."
—Gustav Meyrink, The White Dominican

Thanks to Dornob Designs for featuring three photos of our rainbow bookshelves in their piece entitled "Sublime Spectra: 3 Bookcases Neatly Sorted by Book Colors":

http://dornob.com/sublime-spectra-3-bookcases-neatly-sorted-by-book-colors/

Thanks to Myrna Mackenzie for featuring our color-coded bookshelves in her piece on "Amazing Bookcases":

http://www.myrnamackenzie.com/2011/06/amazing-bookcases.html