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Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

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

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

11. Seal of Gusion.

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

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Sir Isaac Newton

Title Page

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

53.8.—IHS

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Dark Passion Flowers

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

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

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

The giants tore up trees

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

initial letter R with small girl

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Monroe Colliery Co.

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Title Page

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Chaldee Woman

Front Cover

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

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

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Full-page border with roses, black and white

The Virgin Mary

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

A Reminiscence

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

Cherub playing a grand piano

Wandering Minstrel

Christmas Mass

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

Ornate Victorian Border

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

Seal of Coin of Libra

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

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

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Seal of Coin of Leo

Seal of Coin of Leo (obverse)

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

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Front Cover

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Cholmondeley Castle

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

Title Page, Osteographia

Skeleton sitting on a tree stump and waving, from 18th century engraving

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Deer Skeleton from 18th century engraving

Crusaders conquor Jerusalem

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

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

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