Old & Rare Books

Scottish Tartans Resources

Our collections of Old and Rare Books are protected under glass to protect their fragility.  Each book was photographed so that everyone may enjoy these historic catalogs of tartan

1830-1840
Wilsons and Son’s Sample Book

The first ever machine printed representations of tartans  by John Sobieski.

by Donald William Stewart
A collection of 45 examples specially woven in silk.
Tartans, Textile designs and Plaids
Written by William and Andrew Smith
69 color Scottish Tartans
This book was produced using an “Apograph” a machine with many pens filled with water color and moved by a system of cogs and ratchets to draw the intricate lines of each tartan.

The Clans of the Highlands of Scotland: an Account of their Annals, with Delineations of their tartans and family arms