A Dictionary of Colour Combinations, Volume 2
Last updated: 18 September 2026
A Dictionary of Colour Combinations is Sanzo Wada’s catalogue of Japanese colour pairings from the 1930s, and Volume 2 is the sequel Present & Correct sells for £19.50. It gathers 72 combinations built on the twelve months of the Japanese year, and 165 more taken from the fashion, interiors and graphic design of 1910s to 1930s Japan. Every colour is named in Japanese and English. Wada won an Academy Award for colour and costume design twenty years after he compiled them. Price and stock checked at Present & Correct on 5 September 2026.
What £19.50 buys
A paperback of 336 pages, 148 by 107mm and 230 grams, so it sits in a coat pocket rather than on a shelf. Seigensha Art Publishing brought out this edition on 3 January 2020, EAN 9784861527722. Eleven copies were in stock at Present & Correct when I checked on 5 September 2026.
Inside are two of Wada’s original works brought together. The first ran across 1935 and 1936. It sets out 72 combinations of three to seven colours, one group for each month of the Japanese year. The second, from 1938, holds 165 combinations pulled from the clothes, rooms and printed matter around him. Both name every colour in Japanese and in English.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Price | £19.50 |
| Size | Paperback, 148 x 107 x 17mm, 230g |
| Pages | 336 |
| Contents | 72 seasonal combinations, plus 165 from fashion, interiors and graphic design |
| Languages | Colour names in Japanese and English |
| Publisher | Seigensha Art Publishing, 3 January 2020. EAN 9784861527722 |
| Source works | Published 1935 to 1936, and 1938 |
| Stock | In stock, 11 copies on 5 September 2026 |
| Sellers | Present & Correct £19.50, or Bookshop.org UK £21.79 |
Who Sanzo Wada was
Wada lived from 1883 to 1967 and worked as a painter and a costume designer. He compiled the first colour dictionary across 1933 and 1934, and it was the first book of its kind published in Japan.
Then his day job caught up with the research. In 1945 he reorganised the Japan Standard Color Association into the Japan Color Research Laboratory and ran it. By 1951 he had finished Japan’s first comprehensive standard colour chart. Three years after that he won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Gate of Hell. The same Daiei film took the Palme d’Or at Cannes that year. He handled its colour design as well as its costumes.
So the palettes in this book are not a designer’s mood board. They are the working notes of somebody who standardised a country’s colour vocabulary, then won an Oscar for putting it on film.
Why people keep buying it
- The combinations are unusual. Wada worked from Japanese seasons and Japanese printing, so the groupings do not look like a Western colour wheel.
- Every colour is named. A palette you can say out loud is easier to use than six hex codes.
- It is small enough to carry. At 148 by 107mm it goes in a bag, which is why studios end up with battered copies.
- It dates itself honestly. The 165 design combinations belong to 1910s and 1920s Japan, and the book says so.
Where to buy it, and what it costs
Two UK sellers carry it and they differ on more than price. Present & Correct is £2.29 cheaper and dispatches within two to three working days. Bookshop.org UK is dearer but splits its profit with independent bookshops, and it quotes three weeks.
Bookshop.org lists the same edition, EAN 9784861527722, at 148 by 107 by 17mm and 230 grams, published by Seigensha Art Publishing on 3 January 2020. Both prices were read on 5 September 2026.
Buy it at Bookshop.org UK, £21.79
Volume 1 or Volume 2
Volume 1 is the better known of the pair. It reprints the 1933 to 1934 collection of colour pairings. That is the one most people mean when they say they own the colour dictionary. Seigensha brought it back in 2010.
Volume 2 is a different book rather than more of the same. Its seasonal groupings run to seven colours where Volume 1 mostly pairs them, and its design section comes from real printed and worn material. So check which one somebody already has. The covers are similar and the titles differ by one numeral.
The honest catch. It is a small paperback, so the colour patches are small too, and anybody hoping for large swatches will be disappointed. Present & Correct calculates postage at the checkout, with no flat rate and no free threshold. So a £19.50 book is not a £19.50 order. And it is Volume 2: satisfying if the recipient has Volume 1, and slightly odd if they do not.
Buying it, and getting it
Present & Correct is a stationery shop in Clerkenwell that mostly deals in old paper, which is why this sits on its shelves next to deadstock pencils. The shop aims to dispatch within two to three working days and sends by Royal Mail. The service is chosen at checkout by size and weight. Orders over £35 travel tracked. You can also collect from the London store, Monday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm.
Buy Volume 2 at Present & Correct, £19.50
FAQs
Is Volume 2 a reprint of the original?
No. Volume 1 reprints the 1933 to 1934 pairings. Volume 2 collects two later works, published across 1935 to 1936 and in 1938. Neither appears in Volume 1.
Do I need Volume 1 first?
No, each stands alone. Volume 1 is the more famous of the two, so it is the safer gift for somebody who owns neither.
Are the colours printed accurately?
The Seigensha editions are printed for colour fidelity. That is why they cost more than an ordinary paperback of this size. No printed book matches a screen exactly. Treat the swatches as a starting point.
Is it in English?
Colour names appear in both Japanese and English. The book is mostly plates, so there is little running text to translate.
Is it cheaper anywhere else?
Present & Correct at £19.50 was the lower of the two UK prices on 5 September 2026, against £21.79 at Bookshop.org UK. Bookshop is slower but sends a share of every sale to independent bookshops.
What else does Present & Correct sell that is like it?
Deadstock stationery, mostly. There are 1970s pencils, 1960s typewriter ribbon tins and 1980s paper clips shaped as numerals, and three of those turn up in my gift guides.
More from CoolCuration
- The £25 and under gift guide: everything the site lists at this money, in one grid.
- Wabi-sabi: Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers: another small Japanese design book worth owning.
- The gift guide for designers: a wider shortlist at every price.
- theprintspace discount code: for when a palette becomes something you want printed properly.
- Penpot: the open-source design tool, for using those palettes on screen.
Small print
Prices, stock and terms can change at any time. Some links on CoolCuration may be affiliate links, which helps fund the site at no extra cost to you.
Follow us: Instagram
Copyright 2026 CoolCuration | Privacy Policy | Cookie Policy | Affiliate Disclosure | Cool Factor
-----------
We are proud supporters of a safer more private internet via encouraging people to use Brave browser and are actively taking on Spammers as part of ProjectHoneypot. This site is hosted on servers that run on 100% renewable energy in the UK thanks to GreenWebHosting.
This site contains affiliate links, including to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase or sign up for a service via these links, at no extra cost to you. All offers and promotions are accurate at the time of publication but are subject to change or withdrawal by the businesses featured. We cannot guarantee their continued availability. Read our full affiliate disclosure.
Reviews and opinions on CoolCuration reflect the personal experience of our writers at the time of publication. They are not professional endorsements and your experience may differ. Scores use our Cool Factor rating system and are given independently of any commercial relationship.
All content on CoolCuration is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations or an endorsement of any product or service. We are not authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority and do not offer personalised financial guidance. You should always do your own research or consult a qualified financial advisor before making any financial decisions.