Albert Racinet Illustrations

[Rex_Tremende]

This weekend I was rummaging around in my basement and stumbled upon a book that I thought I'd left behind at the farm, and was much missed: The Historical Encyclopedia of Costumes, Albert Racinet, The Classic Work of the 19th Century Re-Edited and Re-Designed with over 2000 Illustrations.

Here are the pages and plates on Scotland. Not every figure has a corresponding description.

Regards,
Rex.

[piperdbh]

Those are beautiful illustrations. Thanks for finding the book and posting them.



Sometimes my eyes don't see exactly right, and when I first glanced over the title of your thread, I thought it read, "Albeit Racist Illustrations".

[M. A. C. Newsome]

THe great bulk of those figures, it would seem, were taken from the work of artist R. R. MacIan, who illustrated these figures for James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, 1840-1845.

[McMurdo]

THe great bulk of those figures, it would seem, were taken from the work of artist R. R. MacIan, who illustrated these figures for James Logan's The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, 1840-1845.

That is what I was thinking Matt.

[Highlander31]

Congratulations on rediscovering your book, and thanks for posting them for the rest of us.

[Tobus]

On the first page where he mentions the various "ranks" by the number of colors allowed, hasn't that been pretty much disproven?

[Woodsheal]

Those are indeed the MacIan prints, some of which are quire good historically, but many of which are pure fantasy....

[Rex_Tremende]

On the first page where he mentions the various "ranks" by the number of colors allowed, hasn't that been pretty much disproven?

The publishers of the book have noted:

...the text has been edited and pared down from the original (1888). But the meat of Racinet's text - the caption material for the illustrations - has been kept, and his voice and his opinions have been left intact, even when contentious. For Racinet was writing more than 100 years ago, in a very different age from our own: an age of colonialism and continuing exploration; of prejudices and poor communications; of different political and social structures.

So we have corrected Racinet's obvious, gross errors, but ignored his minor oddities. To do otherwise would silence the authentic voice of the 1880's; and also undervalue the magnificent achievement of a remarkable man.

I'm not claiming anything about this book or Mr. Racinet myself. I am merely posting some excerpts that may be of interest to this forum.

Regards,
Rex.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

On the first page where he mentions the various "ranks" by the number of colors allowed, hasn't that been pretty much disproven?

The author is referring to the ancient Brehon Laws, which did codify the manner of dress. How widely observed these laws were in post-medieval Scotland is another matter.