The production of “tartan tat” (Letters, November 18) has a long and, sadly, ignoble history. As historian Hugh Trevor-Roper showed in his (in) famous essay about the invention of Scottish tradition, many tartans are based on the patterns contained in two books produced by two English brothers, John and Charles Allen (aka John Sobieski Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart). These were Vestiarium Scoticum (1842) — which was allegedly based on a manuscript given to their father by Bonnie Prince Charlie — and The Costume of the Clans (1845).
Both books contained lavish illustrations of supposedly traditional clan tartans and, from the mid-19th century onwards, were used to produce and market much of the tartan on sale in Edinburgh and elsewhere. Both books were barefaced forgeries.
Julia Cooper
London SE12, UK
