[John Hay Allan and Charles Allan,] The Genuineness of the Vestiarium Scoticum (Edinburgh, 1848?)
Shortly after an earlier book by John Sobieski Stuart and his brother Charles had asserted that there was evidence in a sixteenth-century manuscript (the so-called “Vestiarum Scoticum”) of the existence of ancient plaid patterns long used by Scots to denote their individual clans, the entire prospect was quickly met with skepticism. In response, this private vanity publication was published around 1848, vehemently supporting the presumed authenticity of the forged text. Its frontispiece, a line drawing of the brothers Stuart proudly sporting their “ancient” tartans, however stubborn and spirited, nonetheless borders on farce.