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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.

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

11. Seal of Gusion.

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.

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Sir Isaac Newton

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Fig. 86.—Curves.

53.8.—IHS

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Title Page

Dark Passion Flowers

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

And then began a murder, grim and great

Gibeon

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Cupid with a Butterfly

December Night (Dezembernacht)

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Taymouth Castle

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

Old Bologna (1850s)

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

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Battle of Knights

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Christmas Still Life

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Adrift from The Snow Queen

initial letter R with small girl

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

The giants tore up trees

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

Monroe Colliery Co.

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Title Page

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Front Cover

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

Chaldee Woman

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

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

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

The Virgin Mary

Full-page border with roses, black and white

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

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

A Reminiscence

Cherub playing a grand piano

Ornate Victorian Border

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Christmas Mass

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

Seal of Coin of Libra

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

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Seal of Coin of Leo

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

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Seal of Coin of Leo (obverse)

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Front Cover

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Cholmondeley Castle

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

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

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Deer Skeleton 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