Colour, carried along by the wave of technological development that sweeps down the 19th century, invaded the book, outside and in. However, inasmuch as it is promoted by publishers who are trying to capture new markets and new leaders, this cultural object, which inherits a long and difficult past contrasting it with drawing and its rationality, has bad press among intellectual elites and amateurs alike, as they associate it with the immaturity of children’s books, the vulgarity of a popular public, and the bad taste of industrial publishing ; even its defenders can only accept it by trying to control it. This article provides a synthetic appraisal of these conjunctions, considered through their evolution throughout the century and from the perspective of their technical, editorial, and cultural aspects. An explanation of the main colour printing procedures is provided as an annex.