Old Scottish Regimental Colours, by Andrew Ross 1885. The pre-publication review of this work appeared in the 1884 copy of "The Celtic Monthly:A Magazine for Highlanders" , "What promises to be a sumptuous book, has been announced by Messrs Blackwood. We refer to "The Old Scottish Regimental Colours," by Andrew Ross, S.S.C., Honorary Secretary to the Old Scottish Regimental Colours Committee. The work is to be illustrated with a series of full-page representations of the old colours, and, judging from advanced plates with which we have been favoured, this part of the work will be a perfect luxury of chromo-lithographic art, apart altogether from the historical narrative, and the intrinsic interest attaching to the venerable and battle-stained subjects which these illustrations represent."
The plates are uniformly excellent and appear to have been made from photographs. Unfortunately it is not well known, and where some of the flags in it were later re-drawn in Milne's Standards and Colours, it has been Milne's out-of -proportion pictures that have obviously been relied on by later illustrators.
book by Samuel Milne, "Standards and Colours of the Army" had been the standard reference on British colors since its publication in 1893. Milne’s desire to adequately portray the salient points of art and design in British colors, however, led him to draw the designs on the flags much larger than they would appear in life. The "standard" references are wrong, or at least misleading and while Milne clearly stated his purpose in the introduction to his book, apparently few read Milne's explanation. British colors have been drawn ever since with their central motifs far too large in relation to other parts of the overall design. The Ross plates, however, are uniformly excellent and appear to have been made from photographs. Unfortunately, the Ross book is not well known and some of the flags in it were later re-drawn. It has been Milne's out-of -proportion pictures that have been relied on by later illustrators. Size (in): 15 x 11.25
