![Stuart, John Sobieski [and Charles Edward Stuart]](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/56c9c951-250d-4aee-93d9-ffc0de5505fc/fc368c0e-c96a-4948-973f-071cec22dbf8/00001_jhbNIs_original.jpeg)
Stuart, John Sobieski [and Charles Edward Stuart]
Vestiarium Scoticum
Estimate: £500 - £700
Auction: 18 June 2025 from 10:00 BST
Description
From the Manuscript Formerly in the Library of the Scots College at Douay. With an Introduction and Notes, by John Sobieski Stuart. Edinburgh: William Tait, 1842. First edition, folio (37.5 x 27.5cm), original red morocco with gilt royal arms of Scotland on front and back covers, gilt title to spine, all edges gilt, hand-coloured lithograph illustration by half-title page, 75 chromolithographic glazed plates of tartan designs, each with captioned tissue-guard, wear to spine edges, joint of cover board partly detached, corners bumped, some occasional foxing to free endpapers, plates offset onto tissue guards;
together with: The Genuineness of The Vestiarium Scoticum. I. The Charges Made by the Quarterly Review, reprinted from Volume 81, 1847. II. A Reply to the Quarterly Review Upon the Vestiarium Scoticum, Reprint of a very scarce Pamphlet, published by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh, and Charles Dolman, London, in 1848. Privately printed [n.d., 1848 onwards]. 23 x 15cm, contemporary red morocco, gilt coat of arms and title to front board, gilt title to spine, bookplate to paste down endpaper, library stamp to title page, corners and edges of boards worn (2)
Footnote
A notorious work of forgery and fantasy by the impostor Stuart brothers. Englishmen, whose real surname was Allen, the brothers presented themselves (in good faith or otherwise) as illegitimate sons of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. and set about producing works underlining the wealth, and strictly Catholic and Celtic character, of Scottish culture in the Middle Ages. Their claims that the Vestiarium Scoticum was based on a 16th-century manuscript in their possession were denounced as fraudulent by Walter Scott. One of 50 copies according to the ODNB.