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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.

Front Cover

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

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

11. Seal of Gusion.

Front Cover

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

Sir Isaac Newton

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

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

53.8.—IHS

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Dark Passion Flowers

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Title Page

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

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

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

Scrollwork Border from page 227

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

initial letter R with small girl

The giants tore up trees

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Title Page

Monroe Colliery Co.

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Chaldee Woman

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

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Front Cover

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

The Virgin Mary

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

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

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Full-page border with roses, black and white

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

A Reminiscence

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

Wandering Minstrel

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Cherub playing a grand piano

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

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

Ornate Victorian Border

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

Seal of Coin of Libra

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Seal of Coin of Leo

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Seal of Coin of Leo (obverse)

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Front Cover

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

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