An early version of Methods of Construction (1)

This appears to be the first knotwork page for a book that George Bain was preparing in 1935. But it isn’t the original artwork. Instead it seems to be a printing test from a camera-ready illustration. There are 17 items in this series in the collection at Groam House Museum. Presumably Bain prepared many more that are no longer in his archive. They were produced at least ten years before Bain’s eventual ideas were published in booklet form by William Maclellan of Glasgow.

The illustration explores methods for constructing Celtic knotwork and knotwork bands. If you compare this, and the others dated 1935, to those in the current version of Methods of Construction there is surprisingly little repetition. By 1945 Bain has also slightly changed his methods and terminology.