Old and rare Scottish tartans

by Donald William Stewart

The illustrations of the book consist of one plate containing reproductions of styles of dress from early seals and illuminated manuscripts, and seventy-five coloured plates representing tartans. The latter are executed by the “machine painting” process introduced by the Messrs Smith, of Mauchline, for their tartan woodwork, and for beauty of execution and exactness of detail have not been excelled by any method of colour printing subsequently invented. The wide use made of the tartan illustrations in this work by subsequent writers is duly noted under the respective works.

3. The Clans of the Scottish Highlands: Illustrated by appropriate Figures displaying the Dress, Arms, Armorial Insignia, and Social Occupations, from Original Sketches by R. R. M’Ian, Esq., with accompanying Descriptive and Historical Memoranda of Character, Mode of Life, &c., &c., by James Logan, Esq., F.S.A. Sc., Cor. Mem. Soc. Ant., Normandy, &c., author of The Scottish Gaël, Introduction to the “Sar Obair nam bard Gaëllach,” &c. London: Ackermann & Co. 1845-47. 2 vols.

Originally issued in parts, commencing in the year 1843, and terminating in 1849, in two sizes, imperial quarto and imperial folio. The quarto edition was reprinted by Willis, Sotheran, & Co. in 1857. It contains seventy-two coloured plates of figures illustrating various forms, ancient and modern, of the Highland dress, drawn by M’Ian. Two coloured frontispieces represent the heraldic shields and badges of the clans. There is a separate pagination for each of the parts, making the work of reference troublesome. Logan travelled over a great part of the Highlands and Islands collecting the interesting details relating to the clans here presented. Of the illustrations, the greater number is based on authenticated details of dress, but many are imaginative, as no records exist covering the period to which they are assigned. The tartans depicted are partly those in Logan’s Scottish Gaël, while others are unacknowledged reproductions from the designs in the Vestiarium Scoticum.

4. The Costume of the Clans, with Observations upon the Literature, Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce of the Highlands and Western Isles during the Middle Ages; and on the Influence of the Sixteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Centuries upon their present condition. By John Sobieski Stolberg and Charles Edward Stuart. John Menzies, Princes Street, Edinburgh; D. Bogue, Fleet Street, London; M. Amoyat, Paris; Leopold Michelsen, Leipzig; Gottlieb Haase Söhne, Prague. 1845. Folio. Reprinted 1892, with a Biographical Introduction. Edinburgh: John Grant.

When projected this magnificent and sumptuous work was intended to extend to two volumes, of which only the first appeared, the cost of production having proved excessive, and entailed a heavy loss upon the authors. It contains thirty-five plates. Of these, six, which are uncoloured, consist of representations of Highland dress, obtained principally from sculptured stones. The coloured plates contain representations of thirty-seven figures, obtained from the following sources: Paintings, 29; engravings, 5; drawing, 1; illuminated MS., 1; medal die, 1. The work was also issued uncoloured in two states—viz., with India proofs, and with plain prints. Copies of the original coloured issue are very rare, no copy being preserved in any of the great Edinburgh libraries. I have compared the colouring of the reprint, and also the original of the plain prints, with twenty of the figures depicted in the paintings from which they are taken, scattered in various family collections throughout Scotland. The remaining nine paintings I have hitherto been unable to trace. In every instance that has come under my observation the colouring of the plates turns out to be not only incorrect, but as a rule hopelessly misleading. What makes this all the more extraordinary is that the plain outline drawings representing the original work of the authors are extremely accurate in rendering the most minute details, except the features, which are usually very indifferently copied. Of the remaining eight figures noted above as in colour, seven are represented in tartan, on what authority as to sett I have been unable to ascertain. The letterpress contains a treatise on the Highland dress, which, considering the period at which it was written, and the difficulty of access to the widely scattered materials of which it is composed, is a perfect marvel of industry and ability. It has been the productive quarry of all successive writers on the Highland dress.

5. Authenticated Tartans of the Clans and Families of Scotland: Painted by Machinery, with Map of the Highlands, showing the Territories of the Clans. Introductory Essay on The Scottish Gaël, by a Member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. William and Andrew Smith, Scotch Snuff-Box Makers by appointment to his late Majesty, and by command to Her Majesty the Queen. Mauchline, Ayrshire, Scotland. 4to.

First issued in parts with the title on the wrapper, Original Tartans of the Highland Clans and Lowland Families of Scotland, the preface being dated 1st March 1850. Between the issue of the prospectus and its accompanying plates and the completion of the publication of the work several changes were made in the illustrations. For example, Plate I. of the Stuart tartan was first represented as in the Vestiarium, but was afterwards changed to the present more familiar design. For information regarding the tartans the Messrs Smith relied chiefly on the manufacturers, with whom the work remains the standard of reference. It contains, however, inaccuracies in identification and arrangement, some of which are referred to in the letterpress accompanying the tartans in the present volume. The plates, of which there are sixty-nine, are executed by the publishers’ process of “machine painting” to which reference has already been made under the Vestiarium.

A miniature edition (without date, a want the publishers are now unable to supply) of the plates in the above was issued. The only letterpress it contains is the title-page, table of contents, and the names of the tartans.

6. The Clans of the Highlands of Scotland: Being an Account of their Annals, Separately and Collectively, with Delineations of their Tartans, and Family Arms. Edited by Thomas Smibert, Esq. Edinburgh: Published by James Hogg. Glasgow: David Robertson. London: R. Groombridge & Sons. 1850. 8vo.