Everyone get a bonnet!!!!

[Arlen]

I came across an old book in the local Oxfam store and bout it for £3.50. (Just found it on ebay for £99.00) It's called 'The Kilt and How to Wear it - The Honourable S. R. Erskine - 1901'
It's really a book of it's time filled with advice not to wear loud, unflattering clan tartans and to just pick a nice quiet one to wear for your rambles in your new Scottish manorhouse.

Flicking through the pages I came across this wonderful gem. (Which could really keep Dreadbelly in business.)

The bonnet is an important article of the Highland dress, because it gives a certain character to the whole. Moreover, a man's head is the most striking feature of his anatomy, and it is essential that it should be suitably covered.
There are at present in vogue in Celtic Scotland two kinds of bonnet - The old flat bonnet, which is sometimes, absurdly enough, styled the Balmoral; and the semi-conical "Glengarry."

[LordKiltClad]

Arlen, just looked at your fiance's blog. Did you land yourself a fire haired lassie?

[Arlen]

Arlen, just looked at your fiance's blog. Did you land yourself a fire haired lassie?

I did indeed. Lovely, long, dark-red hair. And a beautiful woman to boot.
(With a nice, western drawl.)

[morrison]

That's a fantastic discovery you've in yer hands. A feather fer yer bonnet, figuratively!

[M. A. C. Newsome]

That's a great little book, that always generates interest whenever I bring it up. I did a review on it a while back:
http://www.albanach.org/kiltandhowtowearit.htm

Is yours an original 1901 edition, or is it the modern reprint by Scotpress (with commentay by Bob Martin)?

[Arlen]

That's a great little book, that always generates interest whenever I bring it up. I did a review on it a while back:
http://www.albanach.org/kiltandhowtowearit.htm

Is yours an original 1901 edition, or is it the modern reprint by Scotpress (with commentay by Bob Martin)?

It's an original print. A little 'well-loved' with someone's name written in the front, but worth it anyway.

[Kid Cossack]

It's an original print. A little 'well-loved' with someone's name written in the front, but worth it anyway.

Arlen:

those are far and away the best of books! I'm a bibliophile, to a degree, and I'll eagerly devour reprints of great works---but there's something special in holding, and reading, an original edition (or early vintage reprint).

[Kid Cossack]

Matt:

What a lovely review, and what a smashing quote with which to wrap up the article.

[Cawdorian]

This is a great little book, I bought a copy of it with Bob Martin's comments based on Matt's review and personal recommendation. It is surprising how little the "rules of highland dress" have changed over almost 100 years. But it interesting to read the opinions of one who was wearing highland dress during that period of time. The book is an interesting glimpse back into the recent past and provides explanations for many of the customs of dress we still observe today.

Arlen, be sure and hang on to that copy, I'm sure it is a rare find.

[Arlen]

It is a fantastic book. Some of the comments are so comical, and yet the book as a whole is really a treasuretrove of history and information.
It was a lucky find and I'll be holding on to it.
I've only ever had one luckier find and that was an early print copy of Charles Dickens Christmas stories I got for my fiance.