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Vintage Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Over 4,200 free images from old, rare, antique and vintage books. High-resolution images for sale.

Hannibal from an old coin

Hannibal Crossing the Rhone

Cylinders, Steam Pipe, Blast Pipe, etc.

11. Seal of Gusion.

Maid in the Forest

Nebuchadnezzar

The Magical Circle of King Solomon, Coloured

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Fish-plating of rails

Château Montjardin. Remouchamps.

Old Riverside Farm, Závist

Sir Isaac Newton

Polkerris, Cornwall

Christmas-tide on the Road

Lutterworth.

53.8.—IHS

Cherup ascending

Hush! Central Will Hear!

The Grotesque (Le Stryge)

Dark Passion Flowers

Gargoyle, brighter version

Gothic Window

Cherub with paintbrush

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Cairo, from the East

Inside a feudal castle hall

Harvest Time

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Field Worker

891.—Trapeze artist walking a tightrope or high wire

Drawn Picture Frame

clipart: initial letter S from late 15th century printed book

Portrait of Włodzimierz Czacki

Schoolwork

Cherub Facing Right

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Spring Song, Frühlingslied

Portrait of Ludwig Knaus

Collared Peccary (Tayassin tayassu)

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Alchemical dragons fighting

Title Page, Musaeum Hermeticum

Front Cover

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Naked angel with caduceus

Alchemy Full Page Border

49.—St. Sebald’s Church at Nuremberg.

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

84.—The Alcazar at Toledo (Begun 1548)

60.—Doorway from Church at Batalha (Begun 1385)

Haigha and Hatta

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Give me a Ham Sandwich

The Battle

Map XIX. Ireland

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Map XVII. british Isles; Showing places of greatest Historical Interest.

Hymn to the Seasons

Bless the Lord O My Soul

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

The front cover, with gold foil

Initial letter capital V with mountain rescue

Helmsman on a Vltava steamer

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Title Page

157.—Uncial Gothic Letters. 14th Century.

Front Cover

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

The Storming of Jerusalem by Titus

Buddhist Priest of Annam—TYPE

Chaldean Slaves

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter R from XIV. Century No. 1

A Christmas-Box From China

Decorative initial letter C with holly and icicles and snow

Indra, God of Atmosphere

The Virgin Mary

The Keep, Walmer

The Stocks. Monkton

Title Page

Free clip-art: Eighteenth-century Border from Figures pour les Missels

Niccolò Paganini on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death

The Engraver

The Painter

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

The Novel

Front cover in red and gold

The Counsel (a Scotch Terrier)

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter B from XIV. Century No. 1

Frontispiece: Don’t Cry

Tortured with feet to the fire

Zeus and Europa

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter N from XIV. Century No. 1

Poppies and Tiger Lillies

Menu Card 2: Chef

Menu Card 4: Waitress

Free clip-art: Victorian border of brown twigs and green leaves

Menu Card 1: Court Jester

Menu Card 3: Celler Master

Initial Letter I With Art Nouveau Swirls

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Venus danced for Apollo

Chapterhead with Boy’s Head

Sacrificial Rites of the Ancient British Druids

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

English Manufacturing

Helen and Paris

Title page, The Defence of Guenevere

Clip-art: calligraphic decorative initial capital letter D from XIV. Century No. 1

That wall of stone

Front Cover

Jesus and Moses

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

145.—Leading a Horse

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Oval frame, scalloped

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Tailpiece with peacock

Front Cover With Alice

Foliated Initial Letter S

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Convolvulus Tricolor

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Visit the full list of Recently added images and of the most popular images.

Vintage Borders and Initials

Decorative Initials and Drop Caps: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T Th U V W X Y Z
See all initials, or all alphabets, or the Decorative borders and frames

Quirky Old-Time Holiday Images

Curious Old Texts, Slang and Dictionaries

A Provincial Dictionary by Francis Grose (1790); 66 regional proverbs.
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer (1894); over 17,000 entries! New 2008-02-15.
Smiley's Recipe and Housekeeping Guide, historical recipes transcribed and annotated by CatamountClyde Studios.
Canting Dictionary by Nathan Bailey (1736), a dictionary of the slang of the underworld, of thieves, gypsies and vagrants. Text complete
Dictionary of the Canting Tongue by Francis Grose (1811)
Musa Pedestris: Three Centuries of Canting Songs and Slang Rhymes [1536-1896] edited by John S. Farmer, 1896.
The Nuttall Encyclpædia, by the Rev. James Wood (1907) (over 14,000 entries)
Oratio Dominica, or, The Lord’s Prayer in over a hundred Languages, Versions and Characters (Scripts) by Dan Brown (1713). I have scanned every page, and also an insert folded in the back, so this book is complete.
Dictionary of Proverbs by Nathan Bailey, 1721. The whole book in text and images (complete)
The Grammar of Heraldry, by Samuel Kent 1718. I have typed the first chapter on how to Blazon, etc., and will do more if requested.
Universal Etymological English Dictionary, edited by Nathan Bailey, 1736. A little under 500 entries, but very incomplete; this is a transcription I started in 1991. It is a different book than the dictionary containing the Canting Dictionary.
The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary edited by Thomas Hearne, 1745. 122 page images including cover and title page; I have started to transcribe names that appear in the text.
More wonderful old texts at words.fromoldbooks.org

The Pictures: Woodcuts, Engravings & Clip art

Pictures of Old Books