An interestiong little book

[ChromeScholar]

A little while ago, one of my customers brought in a couple of boxes of books they wanted to give us. In the boxes was a small volume entitled "The Clans and Tartans of Scotland", by Robert Bain, (with a foreword with his grace, the Duke of Montrose). It's bound in tartan fabric (I don't recognize the sett). It appears that it was first published in 1938, and this is a 1948 printing.

After the foreword it has a list of septs and dependents. This is followed by pages of translations into Gaelic of English names, male and female. After this are chapters on Scottish dress, dates, and a clan map of Scotland. After all of this (70 pages into the book) come pages of clans, each with a short description of the clan, and a full page color reproduction of the clan tartan.

It's not the sort of thing I would put on the shelf at the library, so it has found a place in my own collection of books.

[Robert Lamb]

Sounds like a very interisting book so I just ordered one for my self from alibris.com.
Thank you
Robert "the kilted" Lamb

[Riverkilt]

Was just looking through that book a few days ago myself. I've somehow acquired two copies. One with a dust jacket, one in a little slide in box thingie.

My grandfather Murdoch Macdonald had a copy and I remember as a wee lad how he would pull it off the bookshelf and call me over to show me the family tartans.

Its no accident that my first hand sewn kilt was in the Macdonald Lord of the Isles tartan...I liked it best as a boy from seeing the full plate of it in Bain's book.

Ron

[David Thornton]

Cousin Ron, you really don't need two copies, especially when one is the collector edition, and it is Christmas...
I'll even cover shipping.

David

[Barb T]

That particular little book was my first introduction to tartan more than 50 years ago. My mom and dad had a copy, and it had a wonderful silk cover made from (if I remember right) Royal Stewart tartan. Anyway, it was a red tartan. I can still remember what the book smelled like! I guess I was doomed from an early age.

And I remember as a little girl being completely crushed by Bain's statement in the intro to the book that, "The kilt is male attire and should never be worn by ladies".

Barb

[beloitpiper]

To ChromeScholar and Riverkilt:

Curse you!

I want a book like that.

[James MacMillan]

I have been looking for something to give to a couple of my Masonic Brothers, who have shown interest in the kilt. So I went to my book shelf to see if I have it. I do! But - My copy is so ratty, that I just ordered three from Amazon. I paid $3.95, 4.00 and $4.00 for three copies book and $3.99 for shipping. Not a bad little Christmas present.

Thanks for giving me the idea.

[TheKiltedWonder]

Wow, that's a price even I can handle. Can someone post a picture of the book? I'm just curious what the tartan on the cover looks like.

[Riverkilt]

Sorry Rabble,

I have two copies and two grandkids.

One is the silk cover in Royal Stewart that has the "box" to nest in.

Who'd have thunk such a neat book would have planted the seed of kilt addiction in so many children...

Ron

[ChromeScholar]

My copy is covered in silk, but it's not Royal Stewart. It's dark green and blue with white and yellow.