In literature, russet is often employed as a vivid, earthy hue that conveys both warmth and the melancholy passage of time. For instance, it is used to capture the waning spark of life—a "russet‐yellow tint" signaling a final, dimming glow [1]—and to adorn characters in humble, timeworn garments such as russet jackets and doublets [2][3][4]. Beyond attire, authors invoke russet to paint natural landscapes: expansive hills, withered fields, and even aging tree bark acquire a rustic, autumnal quality as they turn russet [5][6][7]. Additionally, the color appears in comparisons with fruits like the russet apple, whose mottled, earthy skin emphasizes nature’s simple, organic beauty [8][9]. This multifaceted use of russet enriches scenes with a tactile sense of decay, energy, and nostalgic natural splendor.
- A little earlier, the russet-yellow tint announces the extinction of the last spark of life in the creature that is being devoured.
— from More Hunting Wasps by Jean-Henri Fabre
- She wore a long jacket of russet colour, and a crimson boddice.
— from Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 by John Roby
- Near to where Timothy stood, an old gentleman with a pointed white beard and a russet-coloured doublet rode on a very large chestnut horse.
— from The Golden Galleon
Being a Narrative of the Adventures of Master Gilbert Oglander, and of how, in the Year 1591, he fought under the gallant Sir Richard Grenville in the Great Sea-fight off Flores, on board her Majesty's Ship the Revenge by Robert Leighton
- A short russet-coloured jacket and a petticoat of scanty longitude was her whole dress; but these were clean, and neatly arranged.
— from Waverley; Or, 'Tis Sixty Years Since by Walter Scott
- To the north-west are russet hills, to the east two brown paps, whilst to the south is a high, swelling mountain.
— from Wild Wales: The People, Language, & Scenery by George Borrow
- The withering forest began to shed its decaying foliage, which the light gales pursued along the russet fields.
— from Alonzo and Melissa; Or, The Unfeeling Father: An American Tale by I. (Isaac) Mitchell
- The fields are dull russet, the forests are black, each tree seems a skeleton; all nature, save the evergreen, looks dead.
— from The Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No. 2, August, 1863
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- For him, too, there would be the light weight of a loved little presence, followed by that delicious russet apple when the ride was over.
— from Red Rose and Tiger Lily; Or, In a Wider World by L. T. Meade
- Her face, too, was brown as a russet apple, with a pleasant hard redness on the cheeks.
— from An Isle in the Water by Katharine Tynan