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![[picture: Old England: Photograph of the book]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/tn/cimg4699-old-england-book-on-eazel-q75-500x436.jpg "[picture: Old England: Photograph of the book]")
Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and Popular Antiquities, Charles Knight (1791 – 1873) London, Charles Knight and Co., Ludgate Street, First Edition, 1845, two volumes, folio, pp. viii, 392; vi, 386, 24 chromoxylographs (incl. frontis.). Many wood-engraved text illustrations.
My copy has contemporary (worn) half-calf with gilt backs; there is some light foxing and dampstaining to the plates and margins of some leaves. Ref. Abbey, Life, 43; purchased D. & E Lake Toronto, 1992.
This book has been reprinted, but the reprint is out of print; you can search for a used copy on Amazon.
I have typed in the index to the book so that you can ask me for other scans if you like.
I have the first few sections online as Old England: A Pictorial Museum if you want to read the actual book!
The book starts with Druidical and Prehistoric remains and continues on to have Castles, Manors and stately homes, Churches, Abbeys and Cathedrals and much more.
Charles Knight also produced an illustrated edition of the Works of Shakspere, as he spelt it.
There is an entry in the Nuttall Encyclopædia for Charles Knight.
Some of the engravings were done by the Dalziel brothers; I have some images from their autobiography, A Record of Work.
Contents
Volume I
Book I. Before the Conquest.
Chapter I. The British Period. [Fig. 1]
Chapter II. The Roman Period. [Fig. 80]
Chapter III. The Anglo-Saxon Period. [Fig. 189]
Book II. The Period From the Norman Conquest to the Death of King John. A.D. 1066—1216.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 334]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 491]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 795]
Book III. The Period From the Accession of Henry III. to the End of the Reign of Richard II. A.D. 1216—1399.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. Fig. 814]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 929]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities.
Book IV. The Period From the Accession of Henry IV. to the End of the Reign of Richard III. A.D. 1399—1485.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 1150]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 1279]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 1335]
Although some of the images here are from Volume II, I plan to move them into their own darling little folder, and will make a second table of contents.
This book is online at archive.org (Vol I and Vol II), although the OCR has done a really bad job, and the scans are lower resolution and not cleaned up. But you could use it to request a specific image, and I will scan it for you if it’s not here yet.
Title: Old England: A Pictorial Museum
City: London
Date: 1845
Total items: 407
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
![[picture: 192.---Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0192-Arms-and-Costume-of-Danish-Warriors-q90-161x200.jpg "[picture: 192.---Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors]")
192.—Arms and Costume of Danish Warriors
Two male soldiers are shown, one bearded and one beardless. On the right, a man with a headdress of some kind wears a short kilt or skirt, and has one hand resting on his thigh and the other holding a long thin sword by the blade (one has to assume that this picture was not taken from life?). He is wearing tights, seemingly without [more...] [$]
![[picture: 193.---Costume of a Soldier. From Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0193-Costume-of-Soldier-q75-112x200.jpg "[picture: 193.---Costume of a Soldier. From Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6.]")
193.—Costume of a Soldier. From Cotton MS. Tib. C. 6.
Cotton Manuscript Tiberius C. vi is a psalter from the 11th century. The soldier here has a beard pointy shoes (and striped socks I think), and carries a spear. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 194.---Ringed Mail. Cotton MS. Claud. B, 4.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0194-Ringed-Mail-q85-132x200.jpg "[picture: 194.---Ringed Mail. Cotton MS. Claud. B, 4.]")
194.—Ringed Mail. Cotton MS. Claud. B, 4.
An illustration of a Biblical scene but with Anglo-Saxon costumes and weapons. A king (with a long forked breard) wears a crown, brandishes a heavy sword and carries a shield; he wears ring-mail. [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 209.---Tower of Earl's Barton Church]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0209-Tower-of-Earl's-Barton-Church-q75-130x200.jpg "[picture: 209.---Tower of Earl's Barton Church]")
209.—Tower of Earl’s Barton Church
The church in Earl’s Barton, in Northamptonshire, is a work of several periods of our Gothic architecture; but the tower is now universally admitted to be of Saxon construction (Fig. 209). It exhibits many of the peculiarities recognised as the characteristics of this architecture. 1st, We have the “long stone set at the corner, and a short one lying [...] [more...] [$]
![[picture: 210.---Edward the Confessor's Chapel, Westminster Abbey,---now used as the Pix office.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0210-Edward-the-confessor's-chapel-Westminster-abbey-q29-243x200.jpg "[picture: 210.---Edward the Confessor's Chapel, Westminster Abbey,---now used as the Pix office.]")
210.—Edward the Confessor’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey,—now used as the Pix office.
“Under its original name of the Isle of Bramble or thorn-ea, Westminster was a place of importance before London existed.
[...]
“The Saxon king Sebert (597 – 616) built a monastery on the site now occupied by the abbey. Offa (700) is said to have had a ‘king’s house’ there. King Canute the Dane (1017 – 35) began the building of what became the palace of Westminster, in which the sovereigns of England held their court for five hundred years, and Edward the Confessor (1042-66) rebuilt Serbert’s monastery on a scale of great magnificence. This new house he called West Minster, by which name both the abbey and Thorn-ea have since been designated.
“Henry III. (1216 – 72) pulled the minster down, and, for the purpose of doing honour to the Confessor’s memory, began the erection of a more splendid building, which was completed by Edward I. (1272 – 1307) and succeeding sovereigns.
“The abbey, indeed, as it has come down to us, represents the work of something like five hundred years. But while the glorious West Minster has been preserved, all that now remains of the [more...] [$]
![[picture: 211.---Windows from the Palace of Westminster]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0211-Windows-from-the-Palace-of-Westminster-q66-234x200.jpg "[picture: 211.---Windows from the Palace of Westminster]")
211.—Windows from the Palace of Westminster
The windows are supposed here to be of Saxon origin; that is, dating between A.D. 440 and A.D. 1100 or so. [more...] [$]
![[picture: 227.---Saxon Emblems of the Month of January.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0227-Saxon-Emblems-of-the-Month-of-January-q75-280x200.jpg "[picture: 227.---Saxon Emblems of the Month of January.]")
227.—Saxon Emblems of the Month of January.
The central portion of the engraving (Fig. 227) represents the ploughman at his labour. Four oxen are employed in the team, and they are guided by a man in front, who bears a long staff. The sower follows immediately behind the ploughman. Fig. 238, which is a literal copy from another manuscript, presents, at once, the operations of ploughing, sowing, [...]Mr. Sharon Turner has given a brief and sensible account of the Anglo-Saxon husbandry, from which the following is an extract:— [more...] [$]
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![[picture: 228.---Saxon Emblems of the Month of February.]](https://www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland/wm/big/0228-Saxon-Emblems-of-the-Month-of-February-q75-265x200.jpg "[picture: 228.---Saxon Emblems of the Month of February.]")
