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Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 50/52)

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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: 2088.---The Custom-House, London, as it appeared before the Great Fire. (From a Print by Hollar.)]

2088.—The Custom-House, London, as it appeared before the Great Fire. (From a Print by Hollar.)

In all this increase of wealth and comfort, London of course took the lion’s share; the days had long passed away when as a port it ranked but a little higher in reputation than the ports of Boston, Lynn, and Southampton; and it began to be a general subject of complaint out of London, how it monopolised “traffic by sea and retailing by land, and exercise [...] [more...] [$]

[picture: 2089.---Barbican. (Designed from old maps and Elevations, temp. James and Charles I.)]

2089.—Barbican. (Designed from old maps and Elevations, temp. James and Charles I.)

An old-world street in London, with half-timbered houses overhanging narrow streets and alleys. [more...] [$]

[picture: Herstmonceaux Castle]

2103.—Herstmonceaux Castle.

There’s a modern photograph and also a Medieval Festival held each year. The castle is of brick and dates from 1415. The modern spelling is Herstmonceux, near Hailsham, East Sussex. [more...] [$]

[picture: East Basham, Norfolk]

2105.—East Basham, Norfolk

Near Walsingham. “It is a curious and instructive contrast to compare with Herstmonceaux – a true Castle, but in which the domestic mansion was beginning to show itself – with East Basham Hall in Norfolk (Fig. 2105), which forms a true and most beautiful mansion, but in which the traces of old castellated architecture are everywhere conspicuous. It appears from the dates of the erection of the two piles, that it took nearly a century to complete the transformation. And truly significant, in its stately elegance, is Basham Hall, of the more peacable days [more...] [$]

[picture: Inn at Charmouth, Dorset]

2106.—Inn at Charmouth.

I’m not sure if The Queens Arms is the same place. let me know! [$]

[picture: The Standard of the White Horse]

The Standard of the White Horse

A white horse rears up; it is set in a circular frame or cartouche with sword-hilts and an axe-head nearby. [more...] [$]

[picture: Circular Frame With Weapons]

Circular Frame With Weapons

This circular wood-engraved frame or cartouche is suitable for use as clip-art, perhaps for a restaurant menu or a scrapbook border around a picture. You could probably use it as a decorative initial O or Q, too. It is taken from the decorative illustration at [...]white horse. [more...] [$]

[picture: Historiated Initial Letter ``A'']

Historiated Initial Letter “A”

A decorative initial capital letter “A” at the start of a chapter. This “historiated” letter A shows a woodsman, perhaps, with an axe (ax) raised over his head and a sheep at his feet. It could also be Abraham [more...] [$]


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