Begin To Color Me

What was the first adult coloring book?

There is some debate as to whether Dover’s Antique Automobiles, published in 1960, or The Executive, by Marcie Hans, published the next year, qualifies as the first adult coloring book.

The Dover book is self-explanatory—a coloring book of antique automobiles from the vantage point of 1960.

The Executive is arguably not a coloring book at all, but a satirical look at Executive life, full of woeful, sad commentary.

Regardless, both contributed to an explosion in interest in, and sales of, adult coloring books. So much so that the noted songwriters John Kander and Fred Ebb wrote a song covered in 1962 by Barbara Streisand, among others, “My coloring book,”. The song captured both the coloring book movement and the times:

For those who fancy coloring books

As certain people do

Here's a new one for you

A most unusual coloring book

The kind you never see

Crayons ready, very well

Begin to color me

“Begin to color me” sounds like the theme for adult coloring books.

What we have learned from the current interest in mindfulness, and the scientific analysis of the healing power of coloring, is that when we color the flowers, the mandalas, the animals, and so much else, on our coloring book pages, we are coloring me as well, bringing me to the page as both therapy and pleasure.

Begin to color me…

Lyrics from: 

Lyrics.com, STANDS4 LLC, 2023. "My Coloring Book Lyrics." https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/1059155/Barbra+Streisand/My+Coloring+Book