Moses Harris

[3] The Natural System of Colours was published again in 1811, this time edited by Thomas Martyn and dedicated to the second President of the Royal Academy, Benjamin West.

In 1963, a reproduction of "The Natural System of Colours" was privately printed and distributed by the Whitney Library of Design, New York.

The reproduction came about when Faber Birren acquired a copy of Harris' original book and arranged to have it faithfully reproduced.

Birren supervised the reproduction and ensured that the engravings of the two colour wheels matched those in Harris' original book.

Reviewing his artwork, the odonatologists Albert Orr and Matti Hämäläinen comment that his drawing of a 'large brown' (Aeshna grandis, top left of image) was "superb", while the "perfectly natural colours of the eyes indicate that Harris had examined living individuals of these aeshnids and either coloured the printed copper plates himself or supervised the colourists."

No attempt has been made to depict the eyes, antennae or hinge on the mask or labial palps, all inconceivable omissions for an artist of Harris' talent had he actually examined a specimen", and they suggest he copied it from August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof.