Getting Plaid

They're not the best photographs and don't come close to capturing the rich colors of the chromolithography. But if you click on the pictures to blow them up, you can better see the colors and patterns.




These two, above, show the 'ur' plaid, of the Campbells of Argyle. There are pages and pages of Campbell biography in the book, but I'll spare you. Except, maybe, to give you this snippet: "The [Campbell] appellation is personal, and is composed of the words cam, bent, or arched and beul mouth, and the individual so distinguished, was of the race of Diarmid o Duibhne, who is much celebrated in the traditional story, and was cotemporary with the heros of Ossian, an antiquity which few clans can claim with equal confidence, but the Campbells do not come forward very prominently in national history until the time of Robert the Bruce."

Yes folks, that's all one sentence. . .

There's nothing about the plaid specifically, but this, about the illustration: "The artist, in accordance with the character of the family of Argyle, who were distinguished as staunch adherents of the 'solemn league,' has exhibited the figure in the character of one of those doughty opponents of prelacy, poreing over the sacred volume to strengthen his resolution to stand for the convenanted work of Scotland's reformation." Got that? There'll be a quiz tomorrow.


Don't think this shows up very well, but the colors, above, are deep red, olive green, and salmon. Yum.





Above, one of my favorites. I like the colors a lot. And this one, unlike most of the other patterns, really looks like argyle if you tip the angle of the squares so they're diamonds instead. You can even see the lines running through the pattern.



Yes, a lot of the details are crotch shots. Hmmm. Where do you suppose those stockings end? (My sources tell me that Scots wear nothing under their kilts. Personally, I don't know, but wouldn't mind finding out. A guy in a skirt is kind of sexy, unless he's one of those Cher impersonators. And then, not so much. . .)




Here are many, many images from a terrific book in LCP's collection. It's James Logan's Clan's of the Scottish Highlands (London, 1845) 2 volumes. (WW)