Originally published in 1907. Matthew Blair, according to The Glasgow Herald, was one of the few who still possess the necessary qualifications for writing a record of the lost trade, for he was brought up in it. He has performed his task with the competence of a craftsman and with the enthusiasm of a man who looks back on scenes to which distance and intervening success combine to lend enchantment. His treatment is singularly vivid and interesting, even when the picture appears somewhat more highly coloured than is quite consistent with absolute truth to nature." Blair was Chairman of the Incorporated Weaving, Dyeing, and Printing College of Glasgow. This short history of a period in the history of his native town proves that he has inherited no small share of the literary skill of the race of weaver poets. He is also author of The Paisley Shawl.