The Scottish Clans and Their Tartans : With Notes

[bdkilted]

But is was sold at one time, and it was a shame then as much as now. Both as a store manager in the past, and as a consumer now; I believe that you should deliver whatever you promise. The author doesn't deliver what he promised, and as a clan convener I've had to deal with the "experts" that read one book and then pontificate that all others are not clans, but only families. This type of printing only perpetuates the myth that the only REAL clans are on the west side of the country. (I did see the Kerr clan mentioned and they had estates in the east though).

[bdkilted]

I certainly am not trying to diminish you personally for posting it MacEanruig. Just trying to state clearly that it is not what it purports to be. And, California; I run into people all the time that tell me the Keiths aren't a highland clan. Since your family is from the Northeast, you should know that the Keiths began in Caithness.
It is true most the the clan holdings eventually were in Aberdeenshire, that is not where we began. Of course I may be a tad sensitive about this subject.....

[Father Bill]

No... I take your point well; it isn't what the title suggests.

[MacEanruig]

No offense taken, mate. I understand your point well and agree.

[rtown]

Thanks for posting this

[John Henderson]

It's interesting that MacEanruig posted this, as I had been thinking of writing a short article for the Clan Henderson (MacEanruig) Society newsletter on the history of tartan, and the Henderson tartan, in particular. Now forgive me that I forget the history of all of the tartan registers off the top of my head, but the first register to list the Henderson tartan says that it was first described by the Sobieskis and W and AK Johnston. I never found it in the Sobieski's Vestrium Scoticum, and my search for the publisher came across this very website. As mentioned, Henderson is not described in there, either. Note that this book, however, references a larger work by the publisher, The Tartans of the Clans of Scotland. I have not found this online, but would certainly love to see it, and see if it describes Henderson.

If anybody knows of any addendums to V.S. by the Sobieskis where more tartans are described, I would like to know about it.

[imrichmond]

This appears to be an early version of the small book The Scottish Clans & Their Tartans published by W. & A. K. Johnston and G. W. Bacon Ltd. I have a copy of the 39th edition of this book which I purchased new around 1959. Unfortunately, it has no date of publication. Each clan has a one-page textual description and history with its tartan on the facing page. The book is not a comprehensive listing of all clans and tartans and the illustrations of the tartans are rather crudely done, as in the early version.

Here are scans of the front cover and the title page:
Cover.jpgTitle_page.jpg

[MacEanruig]

It looks good for being a 54 year-old book. Vintage books rock!

Unfortunately, many older books leave out tartans that were present at the time (surprisingly, some more recent books are selective as well). Nevertheless, I believe the serious Scottish history buff can learn interesting bits of information from older texts. I would like to collect them.

The first time I saw the Henderson tartan in a book was in a 1973 edition of Ian Grimble's Scottish Clans & Tartans. I own a copy of the same edition.

[Mike S]

Basically worthless to you personally, or in the quality of its contents? That's pretty dismissive language!

Well, at least a branch of the Keiths were septs to one of my clans, the Sutherlands. As such, one could argue that they were represented in the book in a manner. ;)

[tulloch]

Interesting old book. Thanks for the link.