Die Farbenklaviaturen. Musterbuch von gebrauchsfertigen "Oelfarbenanstrich in Rollen".

1931. LE CORBUSIER. Salubra, Colour Keyboards. Loose introductory text leaf in English, 62 single-page monochrome wallpaper samples, and 12 pages of "Clavier de Couleurs", each with 28 colour samples, and 2 cardboard screens in the pocket. Oblong folio, 285 x 220 mm., bound in original publisher's boards, in a new cloth folding box. [Basel]: Salubra, [1931]. Incredibly rare first edition of Le Corbusier's legendary Farbenklaviatur. Le Corbusier first sketched the premises of a logically structured system for color design in the magazine l'Esprit nouveau in 1921. In 1931 he published the first of the two collections of colours which he designed for the Salubra wallpaper company. In his own words, "These Keyboards of Colour aim at stimulating personal selection, by placing the task of choosing on a sound systematic basis. In my opinion they offer a method of approach which is accurate and effective, one which makes it possible to plan, in the modern home, colour harmonies which are definitely architectural and yet suited to the natural taste and needs of the individual." In this first collection, he organized the tones on 12 sample cards in such a manner that one could use a slider to isolate or combine different sets of three to five colours. Each of these cards contained a different chromatic atmosphere, intended to produce a particular spatial effect. Thus, Le Corbusier not only created a useful tool but also a kind of testament to the purist theory of colour. First three wallpaper samples with some minor chipping, but otherwise a remarkably well-preserved copy of what was a working tool, of which almost no copies have survived.