Dyeing fabrics with colors extracted from various natural goods is indeed an ancient chemical craft practiced in every known civilization. In traditional Korea, as in China and Japan, basic colors were derived from plants such as indigo, safflower, Phellodendron bark, and lithospermum root, and numerous colors were made by combining two or three different dyestuffs and using different dyeing conditions and mordants. The dyeing procedures are recorded in Kyuhapch'ongso and Imwonkyongchechi of early 19th century. In this study the materials, techniques, and basis of chemical knowledge used in these dyeing procedures are examined. The authors, Pinghokak Yissi of Kyuhapch'ongso and So Yu-ku of Imwonkyongchechi are related as sister and brother-in-law. As a scholar-official So Yu-ku recorded more extensive list of dyeing methods gathered and sorted out from eight different Chinese and Korean references. In all 43 colors and 50 methods using 32 kinds of plants and 11 kinds of mordants are recorded in Imwonkyongchechi. Pinghokak Yissi discussed only about half as many, but much more in detail for those methods which seemed to have been used in ordinary rural households. In last 10 years, several of these colors were recreated in laboratory in an attempt to understand and appreciate the traditional Korean clothing and dyeing culture. So far the results of these experiments are demonstrated mostly by showing the pieces of dyed clothes directly, as there is no objective way of describing colors. In this particular study a semi-objective method using a dictionary of color names and Munsell Color Chart is used for comparing colors from various experimental works with each other and with modern color names.