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Vintage Pictures, Engravings and Extracts From Old Books

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

Title Page

157.—Uncial Gothic Letters. 14th Century.

Front Cover

11. Seal of Gusion.

The Storming of Jerusalem by Titus

Buddhist Priest of Annam—TYPE

Chaldean Slaves

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

A Christmas-Box From China

Decorative initial letter C with holly and icicles and snow

Indra, God of Atmosphere

Sir Isaac Newton

The Keep, Walmer

Title Page

The Stocks. Monkton

53.8.—IHS

Niccolò Paganini on the Fiftieth Anniversary of His Death

The Engraver

The Painter

Dark Passion Flowers

The Novel

Front cover in red and gold

The Counsel (a Scotch Terrier)

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

Frontispiece: Don’t Cry

Tortured with feet to the fire

Zeus and Europa

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Poppies and Tiger Lillies

Menu Card 2: Chef

Menu Card 4: Waitress

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

Menu Card 3: Celler Master

Menu Card 1: Court Jester

Initial Letter I With Art Nouveau Swirls

Full-page border with hearts and moons

Venus danced for Apollo

Chapterhead with Boy’s Head

Sacrificial Rites of the Ancient British Druids

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

English Manufacturing

Helen and Paris

That wall of stone

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

Front Cover

Title page, The Defence of Guenevere

Jesus and Moses

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

145.—Leading a Horse

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Oval frame, scalloped

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Tailpiece with peacock

Front Cover With Alice

Foliated Initial Letter S

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Convolvulus Tricolor

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Buckingham Palace

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

The Cow Doctor

Gold endpaper

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

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

Faust

Faust, detail from title page

The Virgin Mary

Mephistophiles

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

On the Terrace

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

Usk Bridge

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Mount Edgcombe

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

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

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

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

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

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

One Bay of the “Angel Choir,” Interior, Lincoln Cathedral

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

Title Page

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

Portrait of Ebeneezer Sibly, M.D>, F.R.H.S.

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Front Cover

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

The white horse carried the earth king’s son and the princess over the sea

Front Cover

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

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

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

Wooden Church, Greenstead, Essex, A.D. 1013 (as it was in 1748)

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Fig. 86.—Curves.

Title Page

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

And then began a murder, grim and great

Visit the full list of Recently added images and of the most popular images.

Vintage 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

Quirky Old-Time 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