In the autumn of 1842, the young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Scotland for the first time. The Prince was struck by the similarity of the Highlands to his German homeland. The picturesque and isolated mountain country became a welcome escape for the royal couple, especially following the lease, purchase and subsequent rebuilding of Balmoral Castle in the 1840s and 50s. And where royalty led, fashionistas flocked. By the 1860s, the Highlands had become a popular destination, thanks in part to the new railway line from Inverness to Perth, completed in 1863.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Victorians adored clutter, cramming their \u2018front parlours\u2019 with decorative nick-nacks: plaster casts, busts, moralising religious prints, potted ferns, domed taxidermy and, with the expansion of the railways, souvenirs from fashionable holiday resorts (including Scotland) especially\nif decorated with tartan.<\/p>\n

Read more from Luke Honey<\/h4>\n
The history of The Saturday Book<\/a><\/li>\n
What are \u2018vampire slaying kits\u2019?<\/a><\/li>\n
How to collect antique tinsel pictures and toy theatres<\/a><\/li>\n
The joy of an antique four-poster bed<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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\u2018Tartanware\u2019 is the name given to the delightful wooden souvenirs made in or near the village of Mauchline, once home to the poet Robert Burns. The area was already known for its transfer-decorated wooden trinkets. This included a ground-breaking snuff box, which featured an airtight wooden hinge that prevented snuff from going stale. But it\u2019s the firm of William and Andrew Smith that, until their unfortunate demise in the 1930s, will forever be associated with tartanware.<\/p>\n
By the 1840s, Smiths had invented an ingenious machine that could print out colourful tartan patterns to a high standard \u2013 a bit like a Victorian version of the modern ink-jet copier. Workers pasted the finished paper on to sycamore wood, hid the unsightly joints with black paint, and applied several coats of varnish with care. The finished result was a beautifully made artefact of the highest quality, with the wood ageing over time to the colour of butterscotch.<\/p>\n
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