This site may be going away; please consider the Donate link above... or LiberaPay:
A huge thank you to all who donated in 2025; 2026 Q1 Web hosting 0 / $400; planning a move to much cheaper hosting this quarter.
This site may be going away; please consider the Donate link above... or LiberaPay:
A huge thank you to all who donated in 2025; 2026 Q1 Web hosting 0 / $400; planning a move to much cheaper hosting this quarter.
Galleries: index · 
· 
![[picture: book cover]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/tn/0000-cover-q50-360x500.jpg "[picture: book cover]")
Images scanned from The Art of Illuminating As Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times by W. R. Tymms, with an Essay and Instructions by M. D. Wyatt, Architect. London. Published April 2nd 1860 by Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen.
There are 100 full colour plates in the book done in chromolithography, as well as a chromolithographed title page. I have only scanned a few because my scanner damages the binding. The text is by Matthew Digby Wyatt and the images appear to have been made by W. R. Tymms (and not Symms, as this page used to say).
Title: The Art of Illuminating As Practised in Europe from the Earliest Times
Date: 1860
Total items: 133
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: Horizontal border with flowers, Item 15 from Plate 85]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/085-Fifteenth-Century-Borders-15-h-q95-707x200.jpg "[picture: Horizontal border with flowers, Item 15 from Plate 85]")
Horizontal border with flowers, Item 15 from Plate 85
Fifteenth century horizontal floral border from Plate 85. I have edited it a little so that it more or less joins on to itself, to make a longer line. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Plate 74.---Fifteenth Century No. 4 (two of 2)]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/074b-Fifteenth-century-no-4-overview-q75-254x200.jpg "[picture: Plate 74.---Fifteenth Century No. 4 (two of 2)]")
Plate 74.—Fifteenth Century No. 4 (two of 2)
“[...] a series of bold initials from detached fragments in the South Kensington Museum.” (p. 103) [more...] [$]
![[picture: Vintage border with peacock-feather styilized flowers]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/intro100-border-peacock-eyes-q75-138x200.jpg "[picture: Vintage border with peacock-feather styilized flowers]")
Vintage border with peacock-feather styilized flowers
This full-page Victorian engraved border features flowers that are drawn with lines to shade them and with tendrils that give an effect reminding me of the “eyes” in a peacock’s tail feathers. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Plate 93.---Sixteenth Century No. 5]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/93-Sixteenth-Century-q75-130x200.jpg "[picture: Plate 93.---Sixteenth Century No. 5]")
Plate 93.—Sixteenth Century No. 5
Not a complete alphabet, and with an odd “O” but still an interesting set of decorative initials, including fishes and vegetables and leaves and grapes, with red letters on a black and white background. [more...] [$]
![[picture: Fig. 1 from Ninth Century Borders No. 5.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Tymms-Illuminating/wm/big/017-Ninth-Century-05-borders-1-q75-1040x200.jpg "[picture: Fig. 1 from Ninth Century Borders No. 5.]")
Fig. 1 from Ninth Century Borders No. 5.
Border (Figure 1): see overview page for details. [$]
Note: If you got here from a search engine and don’t see what you were looking for, it might have moved onto a different page within this gallery.
