Hidden Treasures

The main focus of our library and antique collections is on late 17th and 18th century Scotland, especially the Highlands. This encompasses the period of the Jacobite uprisings and their aftermath, going into the first half of the Georgian Era.

• The first Jacobite Rising took place in 1689, after the so-called ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688. The last Jacobite Rebellion effectively ended in 1746.
• The Georgian era is a period in British history from 1714 to 1830 (or 1837). It spans the reign of four Hanoverian King Georges (I to IV) and sometimes also includes the relatively short reign of William IV, which ended with his death in 1837.

This period, of particular interest to us in terms of Scottish history, spans the Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. That said, the impact of these ‘movements’ could be said to have largely bypassed the Scottish Highlands at this time.

• The Age of Enlightenment is described as an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences. The Scottish Enlightenment movement centred around intellectual gatherings and discussion in Edinburgh, which was also a centre for top-class education at the time. The movement was characterised by rationality, reason, a humanist outlook and social/societal values. It rejected irrational authority, whilst advancing the fields of philosophy, economics, history architecture and medicine.
• The Industrial Revolution was a period of transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States from around 1760 to 1830.

After the Georgian era came the Victorian era, which is said to be characterised in terms of religion, social values and the arts by a move away from rationalism towards more romanticism and mysticism.

Some additions to our collection.

We bought this print in a local antique shop here in the Highlands. It is a representation of Culloden House that we have never seen before and can’t find through online searches. There is no indication of the artist, source or date. The perspective has been captured from the South of Culloden House looking in a Northerly direction from the position of the old kennels that belonged to Culloden House. That would provide this perspective with the doocot (dovecote) to the left, the old stables in the middle and Culloden House on the right. Construction of all three was completed around 1788.

The previous Forbes’ mansion house was badly damaged by fire and then demolished between 1772-83, when the new (current) house, a Georgian mansion, was built for Arthur Forbes to a design by the famous architect Robert Adam. Adam was the main contractor for the design and construction of nearby Fort George (from 1747 to 1769) which was built to deter any further Jacobite or Highland rebellions.

Please contact us with any clues you may have as to the origins of the above Culloden House print. It is one of several Georgian and Victorian prints in our collection. This one is the only one we cannot identify or date.

Remaining with the theme of Culloden and Inverness, below are a series of 18th and 19th-century prints by Thomas Allom followed by some 20th-century postcards of Culloden Battlefield.

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Thomas Allom (1804 – 1872) was an English architect, artist, topographical illustrator and founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He travelled all over the world, becoming best known for his work used to illustrate books on travel. Some of his best Scottish works appeared in ‘Scotland’ by William Beattie, published in 1838.

20th Century Postcards of Culloden Battlefield

Some More 19th Century Prints

Below are two Victorian-era framed prints that represent the 18th-century. The first one depicts Bonnie Prince Charlie on the run after the Battle of Culloden with Flora MacDonald:

This next framed print is by R. R. McIan (Robert Roland McIan, b.1803, d.1856). He painted a series of 74 romanticised clan portrayals.

Like Queen Victoria and George IV before her, McIan, an actor, became enthralled with tartan. He was encouraged by his friend, James Logan, with whom he collaborated, to create the paintings and the book. Full of theatrical flare, academically, the portrayals are said to lack in detail and accuracy. That said, these illustrations remain both unique and popular, adorning many a wall.

McIan’s works were published in various iterations of the book ‘The Clans of the Scottish Highlands‘, first published in 1845 – 1847 in two volumes, then again in 1857 and 1899. The original first editions sell for several thousand £ or $, with individual prints fetching up to a few hundred £ or $.

Thankfully, we have a far less expensive version published in 1980 by Webb & Bower.

We obtained the below Victorian print in a private sale. It hangs above Di’s desk.

We also have an Second Edition (1900) of McIan’s ‘Highlanders at Home or Gaelic Gathering‘. This book has 24 colour illustrations depicting Highlanders carrying out various typical 17th and 18th-century activities. You can see the book and some of the illustrations in our blog post about Men in Kilts Locations Review Part 1. The book is also titled ‘Gaelic Gatherings: Or The Highlanders at Home, on the Heath, the River and the Loch‘.

Talking of costumes and 17th/18th-century dress, another book in our collection is ‘The Hugh Evelyn History of Costume; Second Series 1660 – 1800 illustrated by Faith Jaques‘ published in 1967. The complete series spans:

• BC to AD 1500 (1970)
• 1500 to 1660 (1969)
• 1660 to 1800 (1967)
• 1800 – 1899 (1966)
• Nineteenth-century (1966)

In this book, Evelyn describes the dress of the period 1660 to 1800 as follows:

“…. a picture of extravagant, elegant, and occasionally ludicrous as any in history. … The seventeenth century saw the rise and dominance of France as the arbiter of style.”

While the typical dress of a 17th or 18th-century Highlander isn’t covered in this book, you can certainly see the influence of many of the Outlander costumes spanning the fashionable dress of the courts, to that of the urban streets, domestic staff and sporting estates of the period.

We don’t have permission to reproduce the costumes here, but you can view and buy the prints from this book here: https://hughevelynprints.com/cat/uniforms/e-dress-all/1660-1800/