Pantone has positioned itself as a great color identification, comparison and communication system for graphic arts. Its chromatic definition system is the most recognized at the moment. This color mode is often referred to as solid color unlike CMYK and RGB modes.
In 1692 an artist known as «A. Boogert 'sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolors. Not only would he start the book with the theory on the use of color in painting, but he also explained how to create certain hues and change the hue by adding one, two or three parts of water.
The premise sounds simple, but the final product is simply exciting in its details and extension. About 800 pages written and painted entirely by hand, Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l'eau, was probably the most comprehensive guide to painting and coloring of its time.
According to the medieval book historian Erik Kwakkel, who was in charge of translating part of the introduction, the color book was created with the intention to become an educational guide. The irony was that there was only a single copy that was probably only seen by a few eyes.
It's hard not to compare your hundreds of pages of color to its contemporary equivalent, the Pantone Color Guide, which was not published for the first time until 1963.
The whole book can be viewed in high resolution from this link, and you can read the description of it from this other. The book is currently at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. A work of incalculable value for its value as it is a single copy and that, as I have mentioned, with its educational purpose, was only seen by a few people. Today this has changed thanks to the Internet.
From here You can access the online Pantone catalog.