Words and Pictures From Old Books

The Ancient Yew, from England Beautiful (1936), added on 23rd Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:13:00 GMT

A huge yew tree overshadows an even older church in this gloomy unkempt churchyard; tombs and graves of various sorts are visible in the long grass.

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A Saxon Mill, from England Beautiful (1936), added on 22nd Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:01:00 GMT

This is instantly recognizable as the Saxon Mill at Guy’s Cliffe in Warwickshire; it’s mentiontd in the Domesday Book, and there’s a stone dated 1060 by the door, although the mill was running (it’s said) two hunred years earlier, so that it might have ground the corn to make the flour that went into the cakes that the Saxon King Alfred allowed to burn.

See the “places shown” link for a painting of the same building by another artist.

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Decorative initials letter ``R'' from 16th Century, from Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval (1879), added on 20th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:20:00 GMT

This capital letter “R” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It shows a dog catching and eating a rat, or maybe a salamander.

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Decorative initials letter ``Q'' from 16th Century, from Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval (1879), added on 20th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:19:00 GMT

This capital “Q” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It shows a peacock or a dragon.

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Decorative initials letter ``P'' from 16th Century, from Ornamental Alphabets, Ancient and Mediæval (1879), added on 19th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:26:00 GMT

This capital “P” is suitable for use as a drop cap (dropped capital) or a decorative initial; there’s also a small version for an avatar or icon. It includes a drawing of a pelican bird.

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Windsor Castle, The Royal Residence, from Picturesque Views of Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland (1870), added on 18th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:28:00 GMT

The history of Windsor Castle is the history of England and of England’s Kings and Queens. [...] The building is worthy of England, and of the long and illustrious line of monarchs who have sat upon our throne, and [...] there is perhaps none more thoroughly suitable for the Palace of the Ruling Sovereign of England, inasmuch as there is [no castle] more thoroughly English in its character and features.

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Panting was his heart with fright, from Chatterbox Annual (1916), added on 16th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:39:00 GMT

A dog is leaping in chase after a rabbit; another rabbit looks on nervously in the background.

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They knelt on the seat, and fired deliberately, from Chatterbox Annual (1916), added on 16th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:26:00 GMT

It’s winter, and the horses are pulling the sleigh over the snow and through the forest, with wolves in hot pursuit. The young pepole (teens?) in the back are firing thri rifles at the wolves.

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Unicorn with Mane (Monoceros seu Unicornu Jubatus), from A description of the nature of four-footed beasts (1678), added on 5th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:25:00 GMT

This picture of a unicorn with a mane was engraved on brass and included in the 1678 edition of this book. It is taken from Tab. XI.

Monoceros seu Unicornu Iubatus
Einhorn mit mahnen.

Which is, Unicorn with mane. The maned unicorn is of course today very rare outside the Black Forest region of Germany and parts of northern Scotland, especially near Hogwarts School.

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289.---Coffin and Grave Clothes., from Old England: A Pictorial Museum (1845), added on 4th Nov 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:20:00 GMT

An Anglo-saxon drawing of the raising of Lazarus from the dead (an early account of a zombie in the Bible?), showing the Saxon funeral clothes and coffin. One of the two figures on the left is Jesus.

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A Railway Cutting, from Magazine of Art Illustrated (1878), added on 30th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:39:00 GMT

The engraving shows maybe 20 or more men working on making a railway cutting. In the background men are digging away at the ground; at centre, they lod the dirt onto a railway truck (US: a railroad waggon); a horse waits nearby to drag the full cart away. In the foreground is a man presumably raking the gravel between the rails, and another just looking busy, in the nature of workmen everywhere.

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The Condition of the Turkey, from Magazine of Art Illustrated (1878), added on 29th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:48:00 GMT

Perhaps Thanksgiving or Christmas is approaching, because the farm-boy is looking at the turkeys with interest and anticipation.

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Initial letter ``t'' as flower in a pot, from Magazine of Art Illustrated (1878), added on 29th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:18:00 GMT

An artistic and unusual decorative initial “t” from 1878: the letter T is on a flowering plant growing out of a square flower-pot decorated with a Chinese theme.

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In a Gloomy Wood, from Inferno: The Vision of Hell; with Critical and Explanatory Notes, Life of Dante, and Chronology (1870), added on 28th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:08:00 GMT

In the midway of this our mortal life,
I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
Gone from the path direct: and e’en to tell
It were no easy task, how savage wild
That forest, how robust and rough its growth,
Which to remember only, my dismay
Renews, in bitterness not far from death.
Yet to discourse of what there good befell,
All else will I relate discover’d there.
How first I enter’d it I scarce can say,
Such sleepy dullness in that instant weigh’d
My senses down, when the true path I left,
But when a mountain’s foot I reach’d, where clos’d
The valley, that had pierc’d my heart with dread,
I look’d aloft, and saw his shoulders broad
Already vested with that planet’s beam,
Who leads all wanderers safe through every way.

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Zodiac with evangelists from p. 120, from La Vita Nuova (The New Life) (1910), added on 26th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:51:00 GMT

This lady [Beatrice] was accompanied by the number nine to the end that men might clearly perceive her to be a nine, that is, a miracle, whose only root is the Holy Trinity.” (p. 119)

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Zodiac wheel with woman (detail), from La Vita Nuova (The New Life) (1910), added on 26th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:17:00 GMT

The central part of the illustration of the Zodiac wheel with the Evangelist symbols.

I have also made separate images for Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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Symbol of St. Matthew the Evangelist, from La Vita Nuova (The New Life) (1910), added on 24th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:07:00 GMT

Saint Matthew is traditionally depicted (shown) as a human or an angel. He holds a scroll, representing the Gospel he wrote.

This image is a detail from a larger picture.

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The Catacombs at Palermo, from South by East: Notes of Travel in Southern Europe (1877), added on 24th Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:38:00 GMT

At the end of a long dark corridor, lined with coffins, chests, skulls, and the standing dead, we see an archway, and, through the arch, an old man, a monk, standing in a pool of light. This is a very cinematic engraving, even though it predates cinema, and perhaps is a little dark even for Halloween.

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Gnomes hide under toadstools, from The Gnome King of Oz (1927), added on 23rd Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 08:27:00 GMT

Two long pointy noses peeping out, and eyes, too.

This is the chapter head for “Queen Scraps Meets Peter.”

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The Patchwork Girl, from The Gnome King of Oz (1927), added on 23rd Oct 2009

liam@holoweb.net (Liam Quin) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:53:00 GMT

The Patchwork Girl, also known as the Queen of Patch, here sports a haughty glower!

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