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Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Over 4,100 free images from old, rare, antique and vintage books. High-resolution images for sale.

Shuerfest - stubborn stains

Monroe Colliery Co.

11. Seal of Gusion.

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Title Page

Rustic floral border with trellis and grapevines

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Front Cover

Chaldee Woman

Sir Isaac Newton

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

53.8.—IHS

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Dark Passion Flowers

Full-page border with roses, black and white

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

A Reminiscence

Wandering Minstrel

Cherub playing a grand piano

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Christmas Mass

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Seal of Coin of Libra

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Seal of Coin of Virgo (obverse)

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Front Cover

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

Cholmondeley Castle

Title Page, Osteographia

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

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

Deer Skeleton from 18th century engraving

My Dearest Child (My Love)

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

Angel of the New year

Saint Bonaventura as a Monk

Vignette: crucifix with skull and prayer book or bible

The Virgin Mary

Summer Evening

Sir Christopher Hatton

Atrolabe: scientist and boy

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

Full-page border with bird, flowers, ivy

Collection of alms at the funeral of don Álvaro de Luna

Eagle Tower, Caernarfon

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

They Crossed the Delaware in Safety

The figures of the Divine Letters

William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke

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

Corner Bookcase Ornament

The Blizzard in America; Dead Boy in the Snow

Choral Recital with the organ

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

Front Cover, Le Musée Artistique et Littéraire

Cartouche With Cherubs

Full-page portrait border with nameplate space

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

Monseigneur Dabart, bishop of Périgueux and of Sarlat.

German Coaching Inn

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Through Woods and Fields

Title Page, Old England

Fountains Abbey

View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Thames

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

Mr. Edison’s New Phonograph

John Bunyan’s Cottage

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Colophon with full-page border

When She Saw Tinyboy she hid her face shyly in her curls

Title Page, The Sun’s Babies

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

The Rain Fairy

Frontispiece: Why has your tree no flowers while ours are pink?

Ornate Early Victorian Border

Patriotic Border With Stars, Stripes, Eagles

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Front Cover, Moderne Kunst 14

The Rose of the South (Portrait)

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