Robert Louis Stevenson Struggles to Decorate His House

Writing from Samoa in 1892 to Sidney Colvin, Stephenson tried to describe some wallpaper he wanted: "The room I have particularly in mind is a sort of bed and sitting room, pretty large, lit on three sides, and the colour in favor of its proprietor at present is a topazy yellow. But then with what color to relieve it? For a little work room of my own at the back, I should rather like to see some patterns of unglossy -- well, I'll be hanged if I can describe this red -- it's not Turkish and it's not Roman and it's not Indian, but it seems to partake of two of the last, and yet it can't be either because it ought to be able to go with vermilion..." (Quoted in A Color Notation by A. H. Munsell, 1919)