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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.

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

Title Page

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

11. Seal of Gusion.

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

Sir Isaac Newton

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

53.8.—IHS

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Dark Passion Flowers

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

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

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Adrift from The Snow Queen

initial letter R with small girl

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

The giants tore up trees

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Title Page

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Monroe Colliery Co.

Front Cover

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Chaldee Woman

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Full-page border with roses, black and white

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

A Reminiscence

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Wandering Minstrel

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

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

Cherub playing a grand piano

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Christmas Mass

The Virgin Mary

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Seal of Coin of Libra

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

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Seal of Coin of Leo

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Seal of Coin of Leo (obverse)

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Front Cover

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

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

Cholmondeley Castle

Deer Skeleton from 18th century engraving

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

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Title Page, Osteographia

Crusaders conquor Jerusalem

Murder in the Castle

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

My Dearest Child (My Love)

Angel of the New year

Saint Bonaventura as a Monk

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Vignette: crucifix with skull and prayer book or bible

Summer Evening

Sir Christopher Hatton

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Atrolabe: scientist and boy

Full-page border with bird, flowers, ivy

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