Skip to main content

This site is in danger of going away; please consider the Donate link above...

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.

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

11. Seal of Gusion.

The Cow Doctor

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

Gold endpaper

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Faust

Faust, detail from title page

Mephistophiles

Sir Isaac Newton

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

On the Terrace

53.8.—IHS

Usk Bridge

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Dark Passion Flowers

Mount Edgcombe

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

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

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

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

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

One Bay of the “Angel Choir,” Interior, Lincoln Cathedral

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

Title Page

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

Portrait of Ebeneezer Sibly, M.D>, F.R.H.S.

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Front Cover

Full-page border with hearts and moons

The white horse carried the earth king’s son and the princess over the sea

Front Cover

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

Wooden Church, Greenstead, Essex, A.D. 1013 (as it was in 1748)

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Title Page

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Fig. 86.—Curves.

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Cupid with a Butterfly

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Taymouth Castle

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

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

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

The Virgin Mary

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

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

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Christmas Still Life

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

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

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

Adrift from The Snow Queen

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

initial letter R with small girl

The giants tore up trees

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

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

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Monroe Colliery Co.

Title Page

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Chaldee Woman

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Front Cover

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

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

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Full-page border with roses, black and white

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

A Reminiscence

Cherub playing a grand piano

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Ornate Victorian Border

Christmas Mass

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