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Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

Over 4,200 free images from old, rare, antique and vintage books. High-resolution images for sale.

Votivkirche, Vienna

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

11. Seal of Gusion.

The Seranade

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

initial letter R with small girl

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

The giants tore up trees

Sir Isaac Newton

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

53.8.—IHS

Monroe Colliery Co.

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Title Page

Dark Passion Flowers

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Chaldee Woman

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Front Cover

Peasant Girl of Pays de Vaud—Type.

Cheerful full-page vintage colour border

Cheerful double-page spread vintage colour border

Engraving of smiling urchin boy carrying sack and vegetables

clipart: initial letter S from late 15th century printed book

Nazareth, Palestine

Klara Küry as Maya in The Greek Slave

Full-page border with roses, black and white

Full-page border with hearts and moons

The thoughts of my spirit seek you

Portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam

A Reminiscence

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

Ornate Victorian Border

Auf dem Weihnachtsmarkt (At Christmasfest)

Choirboy singing from balcony pulpit

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Christmas Mass

Seal of Coin of Libra (Obverse)

Seal of Coin of Libra

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Seal of Coin of Leo

Seal of Coin of Virgo

Vorfrühling - Early Spring

Gods of our Saxon Ancestors.

Front Cover

Ancient Druidic Worship at Stonehenge, England

The Virgin Mary

Title Page, Error’s Chains

Front Cover, Morris, Picturesque Views

Cholmondeley Castle

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

Frontispiece: Alnwick Castle

Title Page, Osteographia

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

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Deer Skeleton from 18th century engraving

My Dearest Child (My Love)

Saint Bonaventura as a Monk

Vignette: crucifix with skull and prayer book or bible

Summer Evening

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

Sir Christopher Hatton

Atrolabe: scientist and boy

Full-page border with bird, flowers, ivy

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

Collection of alms at the funeral of don Álvaro de Luna

Eagle Tower, Caernarfon

They Crossed the Delaware in Safety

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

The figures of the Divine Letters

William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke

Corner Bookcase Ornament

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

The Blizzard in America; Dead Boy in the Snow

Choral Recital with the organ

Front Cover, Le Musée Artistique et Littéraire

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

Cartouche With Cherubs

Monseigneur Dabart, bishop of Périgueux and of Sarlat.

Full-page portrait border with nameplate space

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Through Woods and Fields

German Coaching Inn

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Thames

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover

Title Page, Old England

Mr. Edison’s New Phonograph

John Bunyan’s Cottage

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