The Scottish Tartans: 1920, 1945, 1961

[OC Richard]

Then at some point that book was superceded by this one, likewise published by W. & A. K. Johnston Ltd Edinburgh.



This book was evidently always sold with that dust jacket.

The illustrations are all new, by William Semple 1896-1964. Now the book starts looking very familiar!



Most of the figures are in modern tweed Day Dress. There are a few in Evening Dress, a few in historical or quasi-historical dress, a few in military uniform, and a few doing Highland athletics.

The Day Dress shown is that one sees from the 1920s through the 1960s, including plain brown leather sporrans and matching or coordinating jacket and hose.



Once again there's no publishing date.

This time the references to Clan Chiefs are somewhat less specific, but there's a "lately" Chief mentioned who died in 1936, and other date mentioned or inferred of 1935, 1937, and 1938. Many of these same mentions stayed in subsequent reprints into the 1960s so they're not very reliable as dates.

The dust jacket has adverts for three other Johnston books, I found that the the first editions of these were 1946, 1948, and 1949.

A 1953 edition of this book does have the printing history. There's no mention of the little red (or green) book in the first post, but it does say this:

Second Revised Edition 1945
Reprinted 1946, 1949, 1951, 1953

That makes me think that my undated copy is possibly the 1945 original Second Edition. I'm not sure what year they started putting in the publishing history.

This book continued in print after a change in the firm's name: starting with the 1955 reprint the firm is styled

W. & A. K. Johnston & G. W. Bacon

Then in 1961 appeared the Third Revised And Enlarged Edition.



A comparison between my undated (presumably 1945) edition and my 1961 edition show that all the old William Semple illustrations have been continued. Evidently there wasn't enough of a style change in Highland Dress to require new illustrations. On the other hand, between the Edwardian illustrations of the first edition and the advent of the second edition Highland Dress had undergone tremendous change.

Here, 1945 on the bottom and 1961 on the top. The new square format allowed room for the Clan badge and various other information. I will say that the printing quality is better in the 1945 edition.



An interesting note is that this if the first appearance I've seen of the Sheriffmuir. None of my catalogues from the 1920s through the 1970s mention or illustrate the Sheriffmuir. Yet it appears in the 1945 edition, at bottom.

In 1973 or 1975 the cover changed to full-colour printing on white, and discontinuing the dust jacket.



I believe this is the edition still in print. (The firm was styled Johnston & Bacon beginning with the 1969 reprint.)