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Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 43/52)

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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: 1376.---St. Albans Hawking Party]

1376.—St. Albans Hawking Party

Falconry in the 15th century, with St. Albans Abbey in the background. [more...] [$]

[picture: 1377.---Whitsun Morris-Dance.]

1377.—Whitsun Morris-Dance.

Whitsunday, or Whitsun, is the seventh Sunday after Easter, and is a time for a holiday. The Morris-dance was originally a Moorish dance. These days it involves men with white socks (always a bad start) and bells on their wrists and ankles, and lots of beer. There are also Morris dances on May Day. [more...] [$]

[picture: Stratford Church, looking in through the door]

Stratford Church.

Interior, seen from the door. [more...] [$]

[picture: 1378.---Bowling Ball. (From a MS. in the Douce Collection.)]

1378.—Bowling Ball. (From a MS. in the Douce Collection.)

[After the end of the Wars of the Roses, in the fifteenth century] the green sward that had been trampled by unaccustomed feet is re-levelled for the bowls (Fig. 1378) (p. 384) [more...] [$]

[picture: Two-wheeled plough. (From Harleian MS. No. 4374)]

Two-wheeled plough. (From Harleian MS. No. 4374)

The two-wheeled plough here is pulled by a pair of oxen and has one man behind. [more...] [$]

[picture: 1381.---Trap-Ball.]

1381.—Trap-Ball.

This game may be similar to Ball-and-Trap or Knurr and Spell, two traditional English ball-games that are still played. If so, the ball is on a see-saw an the play will hit the other end of it to make the ball fly into the air; when the ball ascends the player will strike the ball with the bat, trying to hit a particular target or to get the ball to [...] [more...] [$]

[picture: 1384.---Golf, or Bandy-ball.]

1384.—Golf, or Bandy-ball.

(From a M.S. in the Douce Collection.) [more...] [$]

[picture: 1385.---The Dance in the `Garden of Pleasure:' from the `Roman de la Rose.'---(Harl. MS. 4425.)]

1385.—The Dance in the ‘Garden of Pleasure:’ from the ‘Roman de la Rose.’—(Harl. MS. 4425.)

The Story of the Rose was a very popular mediæval French story about chivalry and knightly love. Here we have an engraving based on a painting in one particular manuscript copy made in about A.D. 1500. There’s some word-play going on: the walled garden is owned by one M. Déduit; the man’s name istself means “pleasure.” We see the wingéd God of Love in the background. [more...] [$]


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