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Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 21/52)

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[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

Author: Knight, Charles

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: 229.---Residence of a Saxon Nobleman.]

229.—Residence of a Saxon Nobleman.

There’s a lot going on in this Anglo-Saxon nobleman’s house. The nobleman seems to have an open book upside-down on his lap and is handing something, possibly bread, to one of the beggars at his door, beggars who are cripppled, lame, barefoot, and in some cases wearing only underpants. I think one of them on the right might actually be a monkey. In the foreground a barefoot person, perhaps a monk, is seated at a large urn, and someone else, kneeling, appears to be receiving something in a sack; behind him, someone else is pushing s small dog towards the cooking-pot.

There are also warriors with shields and spears, and the lady of the house on the right isnattring away with her gran while more beggars clamour for food. On [more...] [$]

[picture: 230.---Hawking.  From Cotton MS.]

230.—Hawking. From Cotton MS.

“All ranks of the Anglo-Saxons delighted in the chace. The young nobles were trained to hunting after their school-days of Latin, as we are told in Asser’s ‘Life of Alfred.’ [more...] [$]

[picture: 231.---Boar-Hunting.---(From Cotton MS.)]

231.—Boar-Hunting.—(From Cotton MS.)

The woodcut here is a drawing showing two men, each holding a spear, and in Anglo-Saxon dress with short tunics ending above theknee, and a dog;they are in a forest and in front of them are tw boars, running away, In front of those are two more boars, [...] [more...] [$]

[picture: 232.---Copper Syca.]

232.—Copper Syca.

Anglo-Saxon Coins and Seals; the White Horse [more...] [$]

[picture: 233.---Silver Coin.]

233.—Silver Coin.

A silver coin, a sceatta (pronounced shottuh, roughly), from the Anglo-Saxon period. [more...] [$]

[picture: 234.---Silver Penny of Offa, King of Mercia.]

234.—Silver Penny of Offa, King of Mercia.

The silver coins of the princes of the Heptarchy are for the most part pennies. There is an extensive series of such coins of the kings of Mercia. The halfpenny and the farthing are the ancient names of the division of the penny; they are [...]Offa, king of Mercia (Fig. 234), are remarkable for the beauty of their execution, far exceeding in correctness of drawing and sharpness of impression those of his predecessors or successors. (p. 79) [more...] [$]

[picture: 235.---Silver Penny of Regnald, King of Northumbria]

235.—Silver Penny of Regnald, King of Northumbria

King Regnald ruled the kingdon of Northumbria from A.D. 919-921; the index entry has it as King Reynold. [$]

[picture: 236.---Saxon Emblems of the Month of March]

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