Before the Kilt

With 22 full-color illustrations and 25 black & white illustrations, all from the 16th century, the purpose of this book is to use 16th century sources to provide in a single volume the most comprehensive and accurate description so far available of 16th century Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic clothing. Accordingly, this book presents and examines the watercolors, woodcuts, and manuscript illuminations of Lucas de Heere, Albrecht Durer, the Ashmoleum Museum, Raphael Holinshed, John Derrick, and more. It also presents and examines the reports on Gaelic dress written in the 16th century by Nicolay d'Arfeville, John Lesley, Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, John Major, Jean de Beaugue, George Buchanan, Lughaidh O Cleirigh, and William Camden. As a result of this extensive process of compilation and analysis, the author specifically identifies the most accurate 16th century illustrations of Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic clothing. He also presents damning evidence that the most widespread images (and long considered the most important images) of 16th century Irish men and women are, to a large degree, a fraud perpetrated by a single 16th century propagandist - John Derrick. As an added bonus, the author includes a full chapter devoted to the law, custom, tradition, and worldview of the Irish Gaeil and Scottish Gaeil who wore these clothes. Physical description: the Deluxe Paperback Edition of 124 pages, 8 X 10 inch format, including 47 illustrations of which 22 are in full color.Original Title and Date of Publication: How the Irish and Scots Dressed in the 16th Century, October 2010