Tartan Book Search

[BLHS209]

There have been many posts about illustrated books showing tartans. I recently picked one up while on vacation, Clans & Tartans by James Mackay. It was only $7.00 (mark down) so I am not going to complain.

There is an illustrated tartan that I liked, Ruthven (pg 204), and the book shows it with blue/purple and light green as the "base" colors and then red, white and yellow stripes. But, this is not how either Scottish Tartan Authority or Scottish Register of Tartans shows Ruthven.

The book does provide good background history to the tartan / clan "name" but my question is - Is there a book (or a couple of titles) that show the tartans accurately (as in correct to the clan / district)?


Chris Shepherd

[figheadair]

There's certainly should be no yellow in the Ruthven tartan. It's not a common tartan and so doesn't appear in many books. You'll find it in Roddie Martine's Scottish Clans and Family Names. No doubt some others too.

[M. A. C. Newsome]

If that MacKay book is the one I remember seeing, there are numerous mistakes in it -- and quite a few where either the wrong tartan is illustrated or the right tartan is depicted incorrectly.

If you really want to know what a tartan looks like, look at woven samples from the mills. For example, here's Lochcarron's 16 oz Ruthven, ancient colors:
http://lochcarron.com/tartanstrome/ruthven_ancient.html