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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.

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

11. Seal of Gusion.

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

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

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

Sir Isaac Newton

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Fig. 86.—Curves.

53.8.—IHS

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Title Page

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Dark Passion Flowers

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

And then began a murder, grim and great

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

December Night (Dezembernacht)

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

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

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Votivkirche, Vienna

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

The Seranade

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

Scrollwork Border from page 227

The giants tore up trees

initial letter R with small girl

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Monroe Colliery Co.

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Title Page

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Front Cover

Chaldee Woman

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

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

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

Nazareth, Palestine

The Virgin Mary

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Full-page border with roses, black and white

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

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

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

A Reminiscence

Christmas Mass

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Cherub playing a grand piano

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

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

Wandering Minstrel

Seal of Coin of Libra

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Seal of Coin of Virgo

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

Seal of Coin of Leo (obverse)

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Seal of Coin of Leo

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

Front Cover

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

Cholmondeley Castle

Victorian vine-leaf page border

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

Title Page, Osteographia

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