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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.

145.—Leading a Horse

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Oval frame, scalloped

11. Seal of Gusion.

Tailpiece with peacock

Front Cover With Alice

Foliated Initial Letter S

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Convolvulus Tricolor

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

Sir Isaac Newton

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Buckingham Palace

53.8.—IHS

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

Dark Passion Flowers

The Cow Doctor

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

Gold endpaper

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Mephistophiles

Faust

Faust, detail from title page

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

On the Terrace

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

Usk Bridge

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Mount Edgcombe

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

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

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

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

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

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

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

Title Page

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

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

Front Cover

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

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Front Cover

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

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.

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Title Page

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

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

The Virgin Mary

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

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

Cupid with a Butterfly

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Taymouth Castle

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

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

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

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

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

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

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Christmas Still Life

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

The giants tore up trees

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

initial letter R with small girl

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Monroe Colliery Co.

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Title Page

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Chaldee Woman

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

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