IT was the first illustrated encyclopaedia of traditional Scottish tartans, dedicated to Queen Victoria in 1845.

James Logan’s lavishly illustrated book, The Clans of the Scottish Highlands, was produced to commemorate the centenary of the last Jacobite uprising.

The publication, produced in London by Ackermann and Co, is now regarded as the most complete record of Highland dress of the day. It was praised for its accuracy in presenting a descriptive history of each clan and a picture of its tartans.

The book included 72 hand-coloured images of clansmen, drawn by the Scottish actor-turned artist R.R. McIan.

And now, a rare copy of the title is expected to fetch up to £3000 at auction.

The complete first edition, in two volumes, will be sold at Bonhams’ Sale of Fine Books, Maps and Manuscripts in London on March 11.

Kept in the same family’s collection for the last 73 years, it is valued at £2000 to £3000.

Matthew Haley, Bonhams’ Head of Books, Manuscripts and Photographs, claimed the book is still in great condition.

He said: “This is an attractively bound copy of Logan and McIan’s work, published on the centenary of the Jacobite rising and reflecting the growing Victorian interest in a romanticised vision of Scotland.

“It’s likely only a few hundred copies were made, the first volume would have appeared on the centenary in 1845 and then the second volume in 1847.

“It was obviously designed for country houses and castles in Scotland, but this was an international book.

“Inside, there is an extensive list of subscribers, and foremost amongst them are the Queen, and Prince Albert.

“Then you have ‘His Majesty, the King of the French’; the Royal Library in Munich; the Highland Society of London; and many Dukes, Lords and Ladies.

“It remains in good condition, so it has stood the test of time. 

“I expect there to be interest from all over the world, from people with a hunting lodge in Scotland to the Scottish diaspora.”

Books like The Clans of the Scottish Highlands emerged at a time when Sir Walter Scott had helped to create a romantic view of Scotland with popular poems such as The Lay Of The Last Minstrel, Marmion and The Lady In The Lake.

After King George IV’s historic visit in 1822 - stage managed by Scott - tartan became almost instantly popular.

Scots scholar James Logan and Robert Ronald McIan researched the clans before producing their book in response to Queen Victoria’s interest in her Scottish heritage.

They produced the book in two sumptuous volumes featuring gilt heraldic frontispieces and McIan’s hand-coloured plates displaying the clans’ “dress, tartans, arms, armorial insignia and social occupations”.

In it, Logan describes the Highland dress as “undeniably the most picturesque and original costume in Europe”.

The work was dedicated to Queen Victoria, who was the first English monarch to take a serious interest in Scotland, and whose own ‘Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands’ was to prove a runaway success when its first published edition was published in 1868. 

The Clans of the Scottish Highlands also proved popular with others further afield, with listed sibscribers including a Prince from Prague, a Count from Hungary and eminent people from New York to Tasmania.

McIan, who was born in 1803, had left Scotland in his late teens to join the Covent Garden Theatre in London, and gained a reputation for playing Highlanders on the stage.

A “fierce Jacobite” who gave up acting to paint, he is said to have employed actor friends to model for his clan pictures.

He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy and went on to become an Associate of the Scottish Royal Academy in 1852.

The Clans of the Scottish Highlands proved so popular that it was reissued in 1857.

Logan, an acclaimed historian originally from Aberdeen, also had another book - The Scottish Gaël - published in 1831.