William Beattie's Scotland: the Far North-West, and Loch Katrine.
"Loch Katrine; Looking Towards Ellen's Isle."
Scotland by William Beattie, M.D., illustrated in a series of views expressly for this work, by Thomas Allom, &c. Engraved By, or Under the Immediate Direction of Robert Wallis was published by George Vertue in 1838. It is a classic mid-Victorian guide to Scotland, filled with full-page b&w engravings, and a text by William Beattie.
My interest in the far north-west leads me to note that in a volume that contains some 120 large engravings, Beattie manages only 4 views from the area north and west of Inverness, three of which are on the more accessible east coast: Cromarty, Dunrobin Castle, and Strathpeffer.
Cromarty Bay, from the East. An engraving after Thomas Allom.
Strathpeffer Mineral Wells, an engraving after Thomas Allom.
Dunrobin Castle, an engraving after W.H. Bartlett.
The only image of the far north-west is a rather fanciful impression of Cape Wrath.
Cape Wrath, an engraving after W.H. Bartlett.
The fashionable and more accessible Loch Katrine is better served, with a vignette of the Pass of the Trossachs at Loch Katrine, and two further engravings:
The Title Page of volume II of Beattie's 'Scotland', with the vignette of 'The Pass of the Trossachs, Loch Katrine', after Thomas Allom.
Loch Katrine (scene Lady of the Lake), an engraving after Thomas Allom.
Loch Katrine, Looking Towards Ellen's Isle, an engraving after Thomas Allom.
This last image is of particular interest to me, for I believe I have Thomas Allom's original watercolour painting of this view.
It is a fine painting, unsigned, but mounted on a sheet with an inscription in a Victorian hand "Loch Katrine - Perthshire. Looking Towards Ellen's Isle, Lady of the Lake, Canto 2nd."
The inscription to the painting.
A fine ,romantic Highland image, albeit far from the very north - Sutherland and Ross-shire.