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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.

That wall of stone

Front Cover

Title page, The Defence of Guenevere

11. Seal of Gusion.

Jesus and Moses

145.—Leading a Horse

Foliated initial capital letter S, coloured

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique green

Oval frame, scalloped

Tailpiece with peacock

Front Cover With Alice

Sir Isaac Newton

Foliated Initial Letter S

Tailpiece of hunting paraphernalia

Convolvulus Tricolor

53.8.—IHS

70.—Border of cherubs climbing in trees

Classical full-page border with goddess

Simon de Montfort: Knight on his Horse

Dark Passion Flowers

Buckingham Palace

Heralds’ College

Indian Civet, Fossa, Genet

Armillary Sphere, Scanned Version

The old tollbooth in Canongate, Edinburgh

The Cow Doctor

Gold endpaper

Historiated decorative initial capital letter M in Blue

Vintage endpaper border with flowering vine

Mephistophiles

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

Faust, detail from title page

Faust

Frontispiece: A bride’s dream

Full-page border with hearts and moons

On the Terrace

Usk Bridge, Monmouth, Coloured from aon old painting

Usk Bridge

Floriated initial capital letter “S”

733.—Oxford Cathedral.

Mount Edgcombe

Our Father Who Art In Heaven

Free clip-art: Victorian border of twigs and leaves

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

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

Fig 36. — A staircase of the catacombs

The Magical Circle of King Solomon

Fig. 37. — Tunnel in the Catacombs of Rome

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

Initial letter I with Transitional Capital

Scrollwork Border from page 227

Title Page

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

Her mirror was the smooth water of the tide pool

Names of Angels and Days (overview)

Front Cover

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

Front Cover

2.—Stonehenge. – Restored Plan.

Franciscan Monk Going Down Staircase

God and my Divine Right: Royal Crest

Endpaper: gold leaf with central British royal coat of arms

Portrait of King Henry the Eighth

An Egyptian Priest and Scribe

An Owl in the Pope’s Council

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

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, Black and White

A Display of Manuscripts on Reading Desks.

Title Page

Summary of the Law, in gold

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

A genteel wheelchair in Paris

Cherub with grin and cloven hoofs

Plate XXIV.—Knowledge Is Power

The Virgin Mary

Plate XIV—Chinese Dragon

Title Page

Fig. 86.—Curves.

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

Front Cover, Art of Decorative Design

Plate XVIII.—Stylized Chinese Dragon

And then began a murder, grim and great

Decorative clip-art Victorian border, antique brown

Gibeon

Cupid with a Butterfly

December Night (Dezembernacht)

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

The Irmin Column in the Cathedral of Hildesheim

Taymouth Castle

Rustic postcard border of interleaved twigs and vines

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

Old Bologna (1850s)

Isaak Newton [Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton]

Battle in the Sacred Linden Groves

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

Initial letter V with a mermaid

Title Page, Bohemia Part Two

Front Cover, Bohemia Part Two

Decorative initial (drop cap) D

Battle of Knights

Full-page border of repeated vine leaves

Votivkirche, Vienna

Purple Victorian Vine-leaf Border

Avenue of Sighs

Christmas Still Life

The Seranade

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

A schoolroom in Tunisia

Llanthony Priory, Valley of the Honddu

Adrift from The Snow Queen

Knight, Death and the Devil (1513)

Dark brown fantasy watercolour border

The giants tore up trees

initial letter R with small girl

Early Victorian Border from Book Cover

Leicester Hospital, Warwick

Scheuerfest - Spring Cleaning

[Ancient] Greek Marble Mosaics 1: Olympia

Monroe Colliery Co.

Mellon’s Baby Food with baby and roses

Title Page

Victorian vine-leaf page border

Land of the Semites. Desert and Caravan.

Front Cover

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