GRGR (8) Mauve, Coal Tar & Seances, Part 2

[Joshua T]

st.'s query:

>
>Pynchon mentions that Mauve was the first non-natural occuring color.
>Is this mere fiction, or is there some truth.
>

Looks like William Henry Perkin (1837-19O8) "isolated what was to become
the first dyestuff produced commercially from coal tar: mauve."
http://www.chemheritage.org/perkin/Perkin/perkin.html
Also http://www2.utep.edu/~allchin/ships/scimath/polymer1.htm
Apparently Perkin produced this "first aniline dye . . . accidentally in
1856" when he was a chemistry student and "trying to synthesize quinine";
"called [it] mauve."  http://www.sff.net/people/gunn/dd/c.htm
Or "French dyers clamored for the new dye and named the color 'mauve.'"
http://www.nidlink.com/~jfromm/history/synorg.htm

Josh