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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.

Printer’s Flower from Title Page

Ornate border from 1878 Title Page (red version)

62m.—Initial capital letter “M” from Dance of Death Alphabet.

11. Seal of Gusion.

62p.—Initial capital letter “P” from Dance of Death Alphabet.

62t.—Initial capital letter “T” from Dance of Death Alphabet.

Plate 3, Page with foliated border from 1478

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Buckingham Palace

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

The Cow Doctor

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

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

Gold endpaper

Faust, detail from title page

Faust

The Virgin Mary

Mephistophiles

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

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

On the Terrace

Usk Bridge

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Mount Edgcombe

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

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

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

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

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

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

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

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

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

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

Title Page

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

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

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Front Cover

Front Cover

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

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

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

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

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Title Page

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